The Lady Claimers
by gillyflower34
Summary: Set in the world of the Walking Dead but with some of the female characters from Z Nation. Picks up after Andrea leaves the prison in I Ain't a Judas. An all woman group shows up at the prison with questionable intentions. Rated M for sexual content. You should be able to enjoy this even if you don't watch Z Nation.
1. Chapter 1

****This story is picking up in season three during the end of my favorite episode, I Ain't a Judas. Everything up to this point has gone the same as on the show. This will be set in the world of TWD, but with some of the characters from Z Nation. As always I own nothing from The Walking Dead or Z Nation. ****

Andrea had been gone about twenty minutes when Carl ran in again from outside. He looked wound up and was yelling about a bunch of girls outside on a bus. It seemed he had already let them in. Rick was not happy and he shoved the baby at Beth, heading outside with his gun. Merle grabbed the kid by the shirt.

"Are they driving a school bus?," Merle hissed at him. Carl nodded. How did Merle know that; he had been inside when they pulled up. Carl straightened out his shirt where Merle grabbed him and watched the man storming off outside, cussing under his breath. Carl kicked off and headed outside after him. If Daryl's brother was going to beat the shit out of someone else for no reason, Carl didn't want to miss it this time. Maggie and his dad were standing outside, talking to the women that had pulled up in the bus. There were six of them and all of them were pretty. Carl had never seen girls who looked like that except on the tv.

The talk Rick and Maggie were having with them must be going well because everyone had put their guns away. Then Carl watched in horror as Merle grabbed a tall thin girl that was standing towards the back of the group. He held her in front of him by the hair, putting the knife thing he had on his arm up to her throat. Now everyone was screaming at once. The girls had their guns out and they were screaming at Merle, he was yelling horrible names at them. Rick and Daryl were yelling at Merle and Maggie and Glen were yelling at each other. Then one of the women stepped forward, putting her gun back in its holster and approaching Merle. She was black, but not as dark as Michonne and she had brown hair that was pulled to the side in a braid.

"Okay Merle," she said, "If you were going to kill her you would have already done it, so why don't you just let her go before Cassandra has to tase you." The Asian girl must be Cassandra, because Carl could see she was holding a mean looking taser gun, which was pointed at Merle. Another girl, who Carl thought looked younger than the rest, maybe only a little older than him, had edged around Merle's back and she had a taser pointed at him too.

"Let go of my mom right now," she screamed.

"Fuck you," Merle yelled at all of them, "this bitch pistol whipped me." The woman he was holding onto was struggling, trying to push his arm away and get loose without losing too much of her hair.

"Thats because you were not cooperating," she reminded him. Merle yanked her head around a little, pulling her hair some more.

"You were fucking robbing us!," he screamed.

"Stop pulling my fucking hair you bitch," the woman yelled, elbowing him hard in the ribs, "only women pull hair in a fight." Daryl had been watching the chaos unfold but now he had enough. He slung his bow over his shoulder and approached his brother.

"You fuckin' know these girls?," he asked. It was pretty obvious they knew his brother, since they were calling him by his name. Daryl grabbed his brother's arm, trying to pry it off the woman he had ahold of. "Let fucking go of her man," he yelled. Merle figured the fun was over, but when he let go of her hair, he booted the stupid slut hard in the ass, sending her flying and skidding across the pavement. The next thing he knew he was writhing on the ground in terrible pain. The younger girl behind him had waited until no one was touching him and then she tased him good.

"Thats what you get for kicking my mom asshole," she hollered at him. A blonde woman yelled at her to stop.

"Thats enough Lexi," she told the girl, "Let him be." The girl stopped and yanked the cords of the taser off the man. She didn't feel bad, that jerk deserved that shit. But she saw her Aunt Katie was giving her a dirty look. They were coming here to try and recruit these people and shooting one of them with a taser was not a very good start, even if he was pulling Mandy's hair and acting like a dickhole. Merle dragged himself up off the ground and leaned against the bus.

"You had your fun," he yelled at the women, "Now pack your theivin' whore asses back on that bus and get the fuck out of here." Most of them laughed at him. The woman who's hair he had been yanking on had a suggestion for him.

"Why don't you stop acting like such a butthurt little cry baby," she told him. Merle thought about taking another lunge at her but he wasn't feeling so steady on his feet so he flipped her the bird instead. Rick was looking around at the women to try and figure out which one of them was in charge. He had no idea so he just yelled out his question at all of them.

"Would one of you like to tell me what the hell is going on?," he asked. A pretty black woman that looked like she was about his age or maybe just a little older than him stepped forward, extending her hand.

"Warren," she said.

"Rick." She smiled at him. He was cute.

"If we are doing first names then its Roberta," she said. The younger girl that had tased Merle and another girl with crazy dark red hair started giggling and making kissing noises. Oh Roberta, yeah baby, say my name bitch. Roberta turned and gave them a very dirty look that mostly shut them up. Merle looked over at the giggling girls. This is who I got outsmarted by, he thought with some anger. He also felt more than a little stupid.

"Well _Roberta,_ " Rick said to her, eyeing the girls. "Maybe you would like to tell me why one of my people just got shot with a taser gun," he suggested. He didn't really care that they shot Merle, but he was part of the group now and Rick didn't want people barging in here and doing whatever they wanted. The woman gave him a big smile.

"Its possible we might have stolen a few guns from your friend over there," she admitted, gesturing towards Merle. "Oh and Mandy pistol whipped him."

"A few guns!," Merle screamed, "cleared out our whole fucking armory is what they did." Now Rick was impressed. Six girls went into Woodbury and got away with robbing them. Daryl was interested as well. He had seen how guarded that town was. He couldn't think about any way he would even begin to pull an entire bus in there and clean out the armory without getting shot to pieces. And not to put too fine a point on it, but these girls looked like a bunch of big titty morons.

"Y'all robbed Woodbury?," he asked, "How in the hell did you do that." A few of them laughed at that, then the curvy blonde girl he had noticed earlier spoke up. She had yelled at that younger girl that had been tasing his brother.

"They're called tits honey," she told him. He looked at Merle, who had nothing to offer but a shrug. The woman walked over to Daryl and stuck out her hand, which he took. She was about medium height, and very curvy, but still skinny through the waist. She had on jeans and boots, with a tank top that was low enough to reveal a fair amount of clevage. What looked like two wedding rings were hanging on a silver chain around her neck. Her hair was shoulder length and the bottom half of it was blonder than the rest. There was no doubt that she was good looking. She had blue eyes and some of the fullest lips he had ever seen on a white girl.

"I'm Katie," she said.

"Daryl." She thought about the name a minute. Why did it sound so familiar to her. Then she remembered. She turned to Merle with a big smile.

"This is your brother you were lookin' for ain't it," she said. Then she looked Daryl up and down and turned back to Merle. "You never said he was cute."


	2. Chapter 2

It was bad enough being called cute, but now the girls that had been giggling by the bus were circling Daryl like a bunch of sharks, making a few more choice comments. He guessed there were some men that might like to be on the receiving end of this much female attention, but he found he didn't care much for being treated like a peice of meat. Also his brother was laughing at him.

"Claimed," Addy called out, reaching in and giving the man a firm swap on the ass. Daryl turned on her, looking angry. She laughed at him, but she also backed up a little. They were just having a little fun with the man. She guessed he had smacked a few asses in his day, no reason to get his panties in a wad over it. Most guys they had met on the road had been eager for some action.

"Keep thafuck away from me," Daryl yelled at the girls. He noticed the blonde girl, Katie, had not been taking part in his harassment and instead was leaning against the bus next to his brother. The black girl that was talking to Rick had also not taken part, and was looking like she was not very impressed with the girl's behavior.

"Knock it off ladies," she told them. The girls backed off him quickly. Although the one with the dark red hair that had smacked at him gave him a little wink first. Roberta sighed. Couldn't they just behave for five seconds so she could have a conversation. She was never going to be able to talk these people into coming with them if they got angry and threw them out. Katie mouthed 'sorry' to her. She had not meant for that to happen, she had only been joking around. Well, partly joking, Merle's brother was cute. Roberta took this to mean that Katie was going to keep on eye on everyone and give her a chance to talk to the leader of this group.

Rick had been watching the girls. He was torn between laughing at the ridiculous scene and getting angry. If a group of men had shown up and done the same thing to one of the women here, it would not have been a laughing matter. At least the woman he was talking to seemed to have her head on straight.

"Why don't you tell me what you are doing here," he suggested.

"Recruiting," she answered simply. When he gave her a confused look, she figured she better explain further. "We had our eye on the ninja there," she said pointing to Michonne, then she pointed to Maggie and Beth, "and the spitfire, and the pretty little blonde girl." Beth felt a little proud. People were here and they wanted her to join them, not Daryl or Rick, her. She wasn't sure why, but it still made her feel good. People in the group treated her like she wasn't good for anything. Like she was a burden.

"We will take the whole group," Roberta added, "if you want to stay together." Rick thought this over. That was not what he had expected her to say. He thought maybe she was going to ask for food or guns, not invite his group to join them. "Look," Roberta said, "we can talk about this more. But how about for now you agree to let us stay the night here inside your fences and in exchange we can make you dinner." That didn't sound so bad.

"Okay," Rick told her. Roberta turned and told one of the girls to pull the bus back where it couldn't be seen from the gates. Then she told the rest of them to get dinner started. Merle and Katie moved away from the bus, while Cassandra got in and pulled it into the back of the lot near the building. She turned it around first, in case they needed to leave in a hurry. Merle thought moving the bus was smart. If the governor saw it here, they were going to have more of a problem with him than they already had. He had been wanting revenge on these girls for a long time.

Beth watched as the girls sprung into action. They had a portable fire pit out, and the blonde woman had a fire going in it before Beth had even been able to see what she was using to start it. Then they had a big bag of charcoal out, adding it to the fire. The younger girl had taken three wild turkeys out from inside the bus and was picking the feathers off. Katie and Mandy set up a folding table and then they went back onto the bus, coming out with armfuls of other items. Cassandra, who had been driving the bus, went to help pluck the turkeys. Beth was watching them, thinking about offering to help, but she was a little nervous. Then the young girl waved her over.

"I'm Alexis, everyone just calls me Lexi," she told Beth, handing her the third turkey. Beth watched what the other girls were doing to the birds and then tried to do the same.

"Beth," she said. The girls smiled at her. They seemed so nice, they were not teasing her or laughing at her the way they had at Daryl and his brother. "Why did that woman say she wanted me to join you?," Beth asked, "I don't now how to shoot and I am not even very good with a knife. I can't fight either." Lexi and Cassandra smiled at her.

"We can teach you all that," Casssandra told her, "But we can't teach you to be pretty." Beth was confused. They wanted her because they liked the way she looked. What did that matter. Lexi could see that Beth was confused. She clearly didn't know her own worth. And she also guessed the girl did not have a lot of experience with men.

"When we are on the road, we deal with a lot of men," Lexi explained, "and when they look at a pretty girl, they get turned on. It makes all the blood rush out of their heads and into their penises. It makes them stupid. And stupid men are easy to control."

"You should have seen the morons at Woodbury," Cassandra added quietly, "they practically rolled the red carpet out for us. Thats how we were able to steal all their weapons." Beth smiled now. She thought maybe she was starting to understand. And she was picturing herself on the road with these girls, hunting her own dinner, doing whatever she wanted. Being strong and independent and laughing at strong men like Daryl who thought they ran the world. She wasn't sure she would be ever be able to be that person, but she thought she might like to give it a try. There was something else that worried her though.

"If I came with you, could I bring my dad?," she asked.

"Which one is your dad?," Cassandra asked.

"The one on the crutches," Beth said, "I don't think he could live on a bus." Lexi was understand now.

"We don't live on this bus," she explained, "we just use it for runs. We can take your dad back to our camp." Beth liked the sound of that. Lexi got up and headed onto the bus, returning with a large tablet, that she powered on. Beth had not seen anything electronic in so long, it seemed alien to her. Once it was on, Lexi clicked on the gallery and flipped through until she found what she wanted. Then she handed it to Beth.

"Thats our camp," she said, "its okay you can flip through there are a ton of pictures on there. Lots of baby animals that were just born this spring. But there should be some pictures of the cabins and the walls." Beth looked through the pictures. The place these women lived at was much nicer than the prison. There was a picture of a large metal gate, with tall brick walls on either side. Two women were standing on platforms behind the wall, holding large guns, and Beth recognized one of them as Mandy, the woman Merle had grabbed earlier. Then there was a picture of an older man, with his arms around two teenagers, sitting on the front porch of what looked like a cross between a cabin and a small cottage.

"This is really where you live?," Michonne asked. Beth startled. She had not realized that the woman was behind her, looking at the pictures over her shoulder. Cassandra and Lexi nodded but Katie spoke up from the table where she was kneading bread.

"Before the turn it was the Fox Family Center for Sustainable Living," she said, "People came to live there if they wanted to grow their own food and raise their own animals instead of working a regular job all week to buy those things. And we also took in at risk girls, runaways, pregnant teens, women who were getting out of abusive relationships and didn't want to go to a shelter. Women that had been victims of sex trafficking."

"Fox Family?," Michonne asked, "like the tv station?" Katie smiled.

"No like me," she told her, sticking out her hand, "Katie Fox." Michonne shook her hand even thought it was covered in flour. Then Katie added, "We have been taking people in since the beginning of the turn. Mostly women and kids but we will take in men if they are part of a family group." Michonne liked what the woman had to say. Unlike the governor, Michonne trusted these girls and felt they were being honest. Katie could tell that the woman was warming up to her. From what they had seen, she was a total bad ass and more than anyone else here, they really wanted her to come with them. She figured laying it on thick couldn't hurt. "We could really use your help," she said.

"You have so many animals," Beth said, still looking through the pictures, "My dad would love it there."

"Why?," Cassandra asked her, "He just really like animals?"

"Well yes," Beth answered, "he is a veterinarian." She was still looking through the pictures so she didn't see the look that passed between the two girls sitting with her. Then Lexi looked over at her mother and her Aunt to make sure they had heard it too. They had a nurse, a midwife and an army combat medic but they didn't have a vet. And they really needed one. Katie oiled a glass bowl and set the bread dough in it to rise, then went to find Roberta. They were going to leave in the morning, letting whoever wanted to come with them come and leaving the rest. But this had changed the game. Katie was willing to do whatever it took to make Beth's father happy. Come morning he was going to be on that bus.


	3. Chapter 3

Roberta was talking to Rick, and most of the other members of his group were standing around listening. She had told them all she could without telling them the location of her camp. If they decided not to come with her, she couldn't risk one of them being caught by the governor and passing that information on to him.

"As soon as we are on that bus tomorrow," she assured them, "we will tell you exactly where we are going." Rick didn't like not having his questions answered, but the reason she had for not telling them where her camp was sounded reasonable. She saw Katie walking towards her at a fast pace and she moved away from the group to intercept her. Rick could see they were talking but he couldn't hear them. The blonde woman seemed to be gesturing and pointing towards Hershel.

"Let me finish talking to them," Roberta said, "they need to get out of here anyway. If they decide to stay then we will figure out what we want to do." Katie nodded. This is why Roberta was in charge when they were on the road. She always kept a cool head and she was good at reading people.

"We have the sword girl for sure," Katie told her, "Michonne." Roberta nodded her approval. Anytime they managed to recruit someone that didn't need combat training they got excited. Katie looked at the group. Most everyone besides Beth and Michonne were standing around. Merle was behind the group standing around trying to look bored. Then he turned and headed inside the building. Katie had been waiting for an opportunity to talk with him privately and she quickly walked after him. Roberta shook her head at the woman, then returrned to the group to finsh talking with Rick.

Rick saw the blonde woman head inside without asking anyone if it was okay for her to go in there. He thought about yelling at her, but then decided it wasn't worth it. There was nothing in there to steal and no one to hurt since everyone was outside. Besides she looked like she had been following Daryl's brother and he didn't want any further trouble with that man.

Merle was in the cell he considered his when he felt someone's presence in the doorway. He turned to find it was Katie. She was looking at him, gripping one of the bars on the cell lightly with one hand. Merle crossed his arms and stared at her. This was one sneaky little bitch that wasn't getting the better of him again.

"What the fuck you want," he asked her. She looked down at her feet, silently willing up the courage to say what she came in here to say. She closed the distance between them, putting her hand on his arm. Merle gave her credit, she was brave. When he was mad people usually wanted to get as far away from him as possible, not get close to him. Her hand on his arm, just a gentle touch but it rocketed down into his groin.

"We really needed those guns," she said softly, "I am sorry about what I did to you." He raised his eyebrows at her, not uncrossing his arms. "Not that," she said, her cheeks feeling hot, "I mean I'm sorry for after, you know, tricking you." Merle looked at her face. She seeemed genuine about feeling bad. But the last time he had trusted this girl he had ended up naked with three guns in his face. A girl this pretty, who liked to hunt and was a good shot and she was interested in him, he should have known that shit was too good to be true. Katie looked up at his face. It was hard to tell what he was thinking, since his happy face and his angry face looked about the same.

"I was hoping we could start over," Katie said, "If you don't want to I understand." She lifted up on her tiptoes and planted a kiss on his cheek. Merle was willing himself not to respond to her. But it was like his body had a will of its own. His arms wrapped around her waist, crushing her body against his, and then his mouth was on hers. She had a good mouth for kissing, full lips and small even white teeth. And she was kissing him back passionately, like she had been thinking about him and waiting for this since the last time. And then there was the loud noise of Daryl clearing his throat in the doorway of the cell. Katie pulled back, embarrassed. She had thought they were alone.

"If you are not too _busy_ ," Daryl said to his brother, "we are having a meeting in the other room." What in the hell was Merle doing. A half hour ago he had been ready to kill these girls, now he was in here sucking face with one of them. Katie smoothed her hair down and headed quickly out of the room, using the excuse that she needed to help with dinner. Merle watched her until she turned the corner and then flashed his brother a big grin.

"See that ass?," he asked Daryl. Daryl had seen it, when he had noticed her outside. He was getting a very clear understanding now, of how Woodbury got robbed. While he wasn't sure he trusted these girls, he was developing a certain grudging respect for them. They were certainly doing the best they could with what they had. And they wouldn't have made it this long if they weren't tough.

"Just come on,' Daryl told his brother, turning on his heel and heading off the meeting. Everyone was inside, sitting around, except for Carl, who was outside keeping an eye on the new arrivals. Rick began to address the group when a loud racket started coming from outside.

"Is that music?," Carol asked, looking confused. "Its really loud." Rick got up and charged outside. It was in fact music, and out here it was even louder. And what was Carl doing, telling them to keep it down? No he was dancing with one of them, the young one that had tased Merle. Rick walked over to the cars, which were parked strangely close to the fence and reached inside to cut off the music.

"Don't get too close to the fence," Addy warned him. Then he noticed it. The cars were running, and they had jumper cables hooked from the batteries to the fence. As he was watching a walker approached, touched the fence and fell down dead. The young girl that had been dancing with Carl walked over.

"We thought while we were here we would take care of the Z's in your yard," she told him. Daryl came over, looking at the setup with great interest.

"Does this shit work?," he asked.

"Well it does work better with music to draw them in," Addy said, looking at Rick, "but sometimes if they are really dried out it just cooks them where they stand and we have to knock them off." She held out a broom handle. Daryl saw there was a large pile of walkers directly outside the fence that had not been there before. He leaned inside the car and turned the music back on. Then he gave Rick a shrug and headed back inside. It would have taken them all their remaining ammuntion to clear that yard out, and these girls were making it look easy. Dancing and having a good time and just letting the walkers kill themselves.

They sat back down for the meeting, which now was going to be had with background music, it seemed. Beth could tell Rick was gearing up for another one of his long winded speeches. She would much rather be outside helping with dinner. And she had already made her decision.

"Maybe we should just have a vote," she suggested. Rick ignored her and stood up to start talking. This made her feel bad, and a little angry too. Her life was on the line just as much as anyone else's. Beth had gotten used to be treated like she didn't count. But the girls outside had listened to her and treated her like her opinion mattered. It made her realize that she shouldn't have to just do anything Rick decided just because he decided it. Listening to him talk was making her madder by the minute. She stood up suddenly, knocking her chair back onto the floor with a loud bang that echoed through the room.

"Since no one cares what I think anyway," she said, "I will be outside." Then she stormed off. She was leaving this horrible dirty place in the morning no matter what they decided and no one was going to stop her. Michonne watched her go and took the opportunity to offer her own opinion.

"I am leaving with them," she said, "No matter what you decide to do." Merle smiled a little in spite of himself. For once he agreed with the bitch. In the morning he was out of this dump.

"Even if we don't stay at their camp," Merle offered, "we can at least use them as a ride out of here and away from the governor." Daryl gave him a dirty look. It was a look that said, _you just want to get laid._ Merle shrugged. He did want to get laid, but that didn't mean what he said wasn't the truth. Now everyone started talking at once. Hershel stood up and shushed them up.

"Maybe Beth was right," he said, "we should have a vote." He raised his hand up. "Who wants to go?," he asked. Looking around, everyone had their hands up except Rick and Carol. He knew Rick just didn't want his leadership challenged. If they went to a new camp, he wouldn't be in charge anymore. But Hershel was curious why Carol would object.

"I am just not sure I trust them," she said, which was a lie. Really she hadn't liked the way those girls had been looking at Daryl. And they had mentioned all the other girls when they had said who they wanted to recruit, but had not said anything about Carol. That had hurt her feelings a little. If everyone else wanted to go, she would go with them of course. Carol wasn't going to stay here alone. Hershel looked around at everyone.

"I said I wanted to leave before and now Axel is dead," he said. "We don't know what kind of situation we may be walking into but it can't be any worse than the one we are in." He looked at Rick to see his reaction. Rick nodded his head at Hershel. It was hard to argue with what he had said.

"You all get your stuff ready," Rick said, "We are leaving in the morning."


	4. Chapter 4

**** This story is rated M for Mature. As always I own nothing from the Walking Dead or Z Nation. Reviews are always much appreciated. ****

Glen had stuffed so much food in his face he was feeling a little sick. This had been the first real meal any of them had since they had been back on Hershel's farm. The girls had butchered up the three turkeys they had bagged earlier in the day. The breast meat they covered in spices and grilled over the fire on metal skewers.. The leg meat they tossed in a big cast iron pot, letting them cook down in their own fat. Then the meat had been shredded off the bone and thrown back in the pot with lots of dehydrated vegetables, making a hearty stew. Plus there was bread. Even Carol had been impressed with that, and Mandy had explained to her they just put the small loaves over the fire and them covered them with a cardboard box that was lined with tin foil. It worked the same as an oven. And they had beer, which was cold from being in the little fridge they had on the bus.

Maggie was flipping through the pictures on the small tablet. Hershel and Glen were looking over her shoulders. The place looked nice. Almost too good to be true. But Hershel had noticed several obviously recent pictures of some of the women holding up baskets of vegetables or baby farm animals. He didn't see how pictures like that could be faked. Glen took another big swig of beer and crammed the rest of his bread into his mouth. Katie asked him if he wanted more, but he waved her away. There was no way he could hold even one more bite. She smiled. One of the most rewarding things about recruiting new people was watching hungry people finally get fed.

Roberta came off the bus with a pitcher. Katie knew what it was and gulped the rest of her water down to empty her cup. The recipe was to take one can of crushed pineapple, bottled lime juice, fresh mint, sparkling water or sprite and add lots of bacardi limon. Then drink until you forgot zombies existed. When they got those turkeys earlier they had been talking about having a bus party anyway. Now it was going to be even more fun since they had new people to party with. Cassandra pulled out a sleeve of empty solo cups and started setting them out on the table while Roberta filled them. Katie went over with her cup, holding it out.

Daryl was still busy trying to fit more food into his stomach, washing it down with beer when he saw most of the girls get up and head over to the picnic table. They looked awfully excited about whatever they were pouring out into cups. Addy, the girl with the dark red hair came over and sat down next to him, handing him a cup.

"Be careful," she warned him, "Its stronger than it tastes." He sniffed at the contents of the cup. Smelled a little girly to him, but he could tell there was liquor in it so he took a sip. It was a little fruity but not that bad. He hadn't swatted or yelled at her yet so Addy scootched a little closer, letting her thigh touch his and giving him what she hoped was a flirty smile. Daryl looked around for a place to set his dishes down, but Katie came over and took them. She put them in the big tub they had that was filled with soapy water. She had been considering washing them up and taking her ass to bed before Roberta came out with the drinks. Now she figured fuck it and left them for in the morning. She did walk around and make sure they were all picked up and in the tub at least. The sturdy metal plates and bowls they used when they were on the road were hard to come by and she would get mad at herself if she forgot any of them here because she was drunk.

Satisifed that things were cleaned up to her liking, Katie went for another drink when she felt someone pressing in behind her. "Where's the liquor you poured into this drink," Merle asked her. She knew they had two more bottles left on the bus but they were everyone's, not just hers. And they liked to ration them out so they would have some later.

"I think its all in this drink," she lied. He gave her a look like he knew she was lying and then sighed and filled his cup with the mixture. Why women always felt the need to ruin perfectly good alcohol by smothering it in juice and bullshit he would never understand. Katie was smiling at him with her hand on his arm. And he was finding it harder and harder to remember why he had convinced himself earlier that he needed to stay away from her.

Carol was not drinking. She was watching. And she was not enjoying the show. Hershel had gone to bed and Maggie and Glen had headed inside together soon after. Merle was standing by the picnic table with that busty blonde woman, talking to her and staring down her shirt. Rick was sitting by the fire with his chair pulled up very close to Roberta's. The two of them were clearly having some kind of intimate conversation. And Daryl had his arm around Addy, tossing back another beer. While she watched the girl slid her hand up his leg and now he was leaning in to whisper something into her ear. Everyone else was at the folding table, playing poker with candy as the currency instead of money. She saw Beth and Michonne were drinking and that sneaky little taser girl was letting Carl sip out of her cup when Rick wasn't looking. Carol could not believe how easy these girls had gained everyone's trust. All they did was cook dinner and flash a little tit and now the guys were practically eating out of their hands. She had thought at least Rick was smarter than that. And Daryl, she was really disappointed in him.

Daryl watched as Carol got up and headed inside with the baby. She looked a bit angry and he wondered what her problem was. He had seen her giving most of the girls dirty looks, especially the one that was sitting with him now. It wasn't like her to act jealous, but then again she had never really had a reason to be before now. He noticed Addy was laughing and followed her gaze over the the table where his brother was sucking face with Katie again. Now all the girls were laughing and whistling, cheering her on. She stepped away from his brother and waved to all of them like she was Miss America. Then she put her arm around his brother's waist and the two of them headed inside together. Addy seemed happy for her.

"Katie has a crush on your brother," she said, "when we robbed Woodbury she wanted to bring him back with us then, and Roberta told her no way. She was really upset."

"Really?," Daryl asked. It was hard to think about one of these girls upset over his brother. They seemed tougher than that.

"Yeah, thats partly why we came back here," Addy explained. The alcohol had loosen her tounge up a little. She needed to be careful not to say too much. "We wanted to see what was going on in Woodbury. We were hoping someone else was in charge, someone we could trade or bargain with. But that lunatic Governor guy was still there. We saw him gearing up for an attack and we followed him here and found you all. Katie wanted to help you guys this morning but Roberta said no." Addy paused. "She was right. If the governor had seen us here it would have made things worse. He hates us way more than he hates you." Daryl took this in. He thought he might try and see how much more information he could get out of this girl.

"You do a lot of trading with other groups?," he asked. She nodded.

"Yeah," Addy said, "We do a trading mission about once a month or so. We don't usually steal like we did at Woodbury. But that guy was crazy. He was going to hunt us down and kill us if we tried to leave."

"How do you know that?," Daryl asked as casually as he could.

"Cassandra fucked him and then listened in on all his conversations," she explained, "plus Merle told Katie all kinds of stuff." Daryl smiled at that. He wouldn't think his brother would be one to get loose lips with a woman like that, even if she was easy on the eyes. Merle usually treated women like they were disposable.

Katie could feel the bars of the cell pushing into her back. She was trying to kick her boots off so she could get her pants down. Her head was spinning from the alcohol and from the kissing. Why had she thought it was such a good idea to lace her boots up so damn tight. Finally she pushed Merle away from her so she could bend down and untie them. She shoved him so hard he thought maybe he had done something to piss her off, but them he saw she was undressing. He kicked off his own boots and then started on his clothes, which wasn't easy as it used to be when he had two good hands. And he was more interested in watching Katie get naked than he was in paying attention to what he was doing. She was built like a god damn brick shithouse.

Once she had her boots untied, she shoved hers underwear down along with her pants. Then she pulled her tank top over her head and reached behind her back to unsnap her bra. Merle had his boots and shirt off, standing there staring at her. He guessed she wasn't kidding around about wanting to get it on. She pulled his head down so she could kiss him while she unzipped his pants and pushed them down, lifting her leg and stomping on the crotch of them to shove them down to his ankles. Gripping it by the bottom hem, she pulled his tank up and over his head, taking care not to get it tangled up on his arm sleeve.

She pushed him down so he was sitting on the bed and then lowered herself on top of him with one knee on either side. His hand was between her legs and then she felt him push inside of her. She meant to start slow but as soon as she felt him inside she was rocking her hips hard against his, bracing herself with her hands on his shoulders. The sensation was building up inside her and then she was coming hard. _Oh fuck I'm cumming, god damn it._ Merle thought thats what was going on, and it was a good thing too because he was drunk and having a hard time not blowing his load. He had meant to lift her off before he wasn't quick enough and ended up losing it nice and deep up inside her.

"Oops," he said. She lifted off him and collapsed on the bed.

"Its fine," she said. Really she felt too good to care about it right now. And she was due to get her period any day so she guessed the chances of getting pregnant were fairly slim. Merle lay down next to her, pulling her close so her head was resting on his chest. She was getting a little chilly now that they were done exerting themselves. And she noticed he didn't even have sheets in the room, just a bare mattress. Katie slid away and moved to get out of the bed. She was going to go get her blanket from the bus, and maybe a bottled water. Without warning she was pinned to the bed with Merle on top of her. He had his hand around her throat.

"Where the fuck do you think you are going?," he hissed at her.

"To get a blanket and some water," she said. He was scaring her. She had no idea what had come over him.

"Bullshit," he said. Now she remembered. She had said she had to pee the last time. Then Mandy and Cassandra had come in with her and they had stuck their guns in his face.

"Really," she said, putting her hands up in surrender, "I was just cold and I wanted a drink. No tricks." He let go of her throat but didn't get off her yet. Instead he looked at her face, trying to decide if she was lying or not. She looked scared, that was for sure.

"You ever pull that shit on me again and I will fucking end you," he said, "you understand me?" She nodded her head. He rolled off her. He expected her to take off running but she just lay there. Then she turned on her side and leaned over him. She kissed him gently on the mouth. Then she touched his face lightly with her fingertips.

"Can I go get my blanket now?," she asked, the corners of her mouth turning up in a wicked little grin, "or do you want to strangle me some more?" Merle had to admit for someone with a vagina, she had some fucking balls on her.

"Bring me a beer," he told her. Now she was laughing. She got up and pulled on his black button down shirt, Fastening enough buttons to keep it from flying open. Then she stuffed her bare feet back in her boots and headed out. In the doorway she turned around and addressed him.

"Just so you know," she informed him, "I prefer to be spanked rather than choked."


	5. Chapter 5

Katie walked out to the bus, ignoring her friends who were whistling at her mostly naked body. Mandy of couse was yelling that she wanted to know how it was. Well she could wait to hear about it until after they got home tomorrow. Katie pulled on the shorts she usually slept in and grabbed her blanket and pillow. Then she took a bottle of water from the fridge. She had actually been thinking about getting Merle the beer he had asked for but they were all gone. She poked through her pack until she found the joint she had squirreled away in there. Her watch was in her bag also, and she put it on, setting the timer for about four o'clock in the morning. She knew Roberta wanted everyone up and out of there before first light. Less chance of the Governor seeing them that way.

When Katie stepped down the steps to get off the bus, Roberta was standing there. She was getting ready to pack it in for the night.

"You sleeping in there?," she asked Katie, gesturing towards the prison. Katie nodded.

"Everyone else getting on the bus?," Katie asked. She was wondering if Addy was going to try and seal the deal with Merle's brother, but they didn't look any closer to fucking then they had earlier.

"I'm about to go get her and lock it up," Roberta said. Then she gave Katie a kiss in the cheek," be safe honey."

"See you around four," Katie said, holding up her watch. Then she headed off back inside the large building. Roberta was a little worried for her, but she knew Katie could take care of Katie. Then Roberta set off to round up the rest of her girls. Beth and Michonne stayed the night on the bus with them. Carl wanted to stay too, but his dad made him go inside. Roberta had to practically peel Addy off Daryl, but she was so drunk she passed out in her sleeping place about five minutes later. Roberta stayed up a while, keeping an eye on everyone and talking quietly with Michonne. They could hear Beth and Lexi giggling in the back of the bus. While she had not made up her mind about the rest of people here, she could tell these two women were going to be welcome additions to the group.

Michonne had been thinking about how happy she was to be here. But something was nagging at the back of her mind. She was worried about Andrea. If only she had stayed the night at the prison with them, then she would be leaving with them in the morning. If she stayed in Woodbury, the governor was going to kill her. Roberta could tell something was bothering Michonne and she encouraged her to tell her what it was. Michonne quietly explained about her friend and the precarious situation she was in.

"That blonde woman that was here earlier today?," Roberta asked. Michonne nodded. Roberta thought this over. If the woman was being held at Woodbury against her will, she would be ready to help her immediately. But risking their lives to help someone that didn't want help was another story. If it gained her Michonne's trust and loyalty it might be worth it. "Let me talk to Katie in the morning and see what she thinks," Roberta said. Michonne thought that sounded fair. The fact that these girls were willing to even think about risking their lives to help her made Michonne feel good. Even back in normal life she had never really felt accepted by other women. She knew now, these were her people.

Katie kicked her boots back off and lay down next to Merle. He was happy she had come back, although he was trying to act like he didn't care. She pulled the blanket up over them and he lifted his head so she could put her pillow down. Then she pulled out the joint she brought and lit it up, taking a long pull and holding it in before she blew it out. They passed it back and forth a while, then Merle noticed his brother in the doorway. Daryl had smelled the pot from outside and come looking to see who was smoking.

"Had enough?," Katie asked Merle. He said yes, so she held out the joint for Daryl to take. "Don't say I never gave you anything," she teased him. He gave her a little smile and headed for his own bed, the smoke streaming behind him in little wisps. Katie rolled back, snuggling in and getting comfortable. She put her head on Merle's chest, finding a good spot. She was high now, and feeling very relaxed. She talked to him in a quiet sleepy little voice that made him smile.

"I was thinking," she said, "when we get back to my camp..." He leaned up to look at her, thinking maybe she had fallen asleep mid sentence.

"You were thinking what?," he asked her. She lifted her head up and kissed him full on the mouth, parting his lips gently with her tounge.

"I was thinking I would like to get you in a nice hot shower," she whispered into his ear, "and then I'd like to find out what you taste like." Merle was rendered speechless for a moment. That was hands down the hottest thing anyone had ever said to him. He rolled Katie onto her back and kissed her. Starting with her mouth, he worked his way down to her breasts, which she bared by quickly unbuttoning his shirt that she was still wearing. She pushed her shorts down and pulled him close to her, kissing him deeply. Merle had never really understood when people used the term love-making. He always figured it was just a polite way of saying fucking. But the way they were moving together, taking it slow since they had already been satisfied by their earlier encounter, this had to be what people meant.

And she was kissing him, running her hands up and down his back and raising her hips up in rhythm with his movements. Then she was gasping for breath, digging her nails in. Her orgasm was intense this time, since she was still sensitive from earlier, and the spasms rocked through her so hard it almost hurt. He pushed into her a few more times, feeling her contract around him with a warm rush of fluid. Since he had already blown off inside her earlier, Merle figured there was no point in pulling out now, and he came with her, moaning into her hair.

He would have liked to stay like this a little longer, but he didn't want to squash her, so her rolled onto his back. She rolled in, tossing one leg and arm over him and getting back to the comfortable spot she had found earlier. A few minutes later, Merle could feel her slow even breathing and he knew she was asleep. He was tired, but there was no way he was going to let himself fall asleep before she did and risk her taking off. Now that she was passed out her held her close and let his heavy eyes fall shut.

Four in the morning came quick. When Katie's watch started to beep, she hit the button quickly to shut it off then looked at it, hoping she had set it wrong and it wasn't actually time to get up. No such luck, she thought. She flung her legs out of bed and got up, taking a long, lingering look at the man she had been sleeping beside and giving serious consideration to crawling back into bed with him. She sighed and poked around, looking for her clothes. Finding them, she dressed quickly and headed out of the room. A few cells down she found who she was looking for.

Rick was asleep with his daughter on his chest. They looked so sweet, Katie felt terrible for waking him up. She also wanted to go it gently, so she wouldn't startle him. She crouched down next to the bed and touched his arm softly, telling him quietly to wake up. The little baby was so cute. She reached over and stroked her hair, then rubbed her little back. Thats when she felt Rick's hand clamp down around her wrist.

"Its okay," she whispered, "its just time to get ready to go. You should start getting your people up." Rick relaxed and let go of her. "Sorry for touching her," Katie said, "she is just so cute."

"Would you like to hold her while I get dressed?," Rick asked the woman. She scooped the baby up eagerly and held her close. From how confident she was in holding her Rick guessed she had kids of her own.

"I wish my baby was still this small," she said softly. Rick smiled at her. "I am going to go out and make some coffee," Katie said, "is it okay if I take her with me?" Rick reached in to touch his daughter on the hand.

"Its fine," he told Katie. Normally it would make him nervous to let a strange woman walk away with his daughter, but he could tell by the way Katie was holding her she wasn't going to let anything happen to Judith. Katie stepped outside, happy to see that Roberta was already getting everyone up so she wouldn't have to wake them by pounding on the bus door. Also the coffee was already made, another score. Katie grabbed a mug and filled it, pouring in some sugar and powdered creamer, then sipping at the hot liquid carefully to make sure none dripped on the baby.

"You didn't steal that baby did you?," Roberta asked playfully.

"No your lover boy said I could hold her," Katie told her. She had seen Roberta looking at Rick the night before. It was cute, especially since Roberta didn't usually take part in their games. She also found it a little funny that Roberta had a crush on a white boy. Roberta had a picture of her husband that she had shown Katie before and he did not look like Rick.

"We have a bit of an issue," Roberta said. Katie asked her what was wrong and Roberta explained about Michonne's friend Andrea. Katie also wasn't sure what they should do. Mandy and Addy came over to get some coffee and they started kicking around some ideas.

Merle woke up to find his bed empty. Just like he had expected that little bitch had run out on him. Again. When he stormed outside he expected to see the bus gone and was shocked to see the girls standing around sipping coffee and talking to Rick and Daryl. Katie smiled at him and waved him over. She figured there was no easy way to explain the problem so she just blurted it out.

"Michonne wants to go get Andrea," she said. Merle looked at all of them like they were nuts and went to get a cup of coffee. When he came back Katie asked him, "What do you think?" He looked at Michonne.

"I think Andrea doesn't want to go," he said.

"Thats a good point," Katie said, "what if we get there and she won't come with us. Is this a rescue or a kidnapping?" She thought about the question and then added, "I've never kidnapped anyone before, it could be fun." Daryl almost choked on his coffee. Fun? These girls were crazy. Crazy stupid or crazy like a fox he hadn't decided yet.

"What about this?," Roberta said, turning to Michonne, "our camp is only a day from here. Lets get these people back there, give it a few more days, and if you want to come back for your friend we will." She watched the woman for her reaction. Michonne looked at the baby and then over at Hershel with his crutches. She nodded. She would feel bad if one of them got hurt because of her.

"We could really use your help to get everyone home safe," Katie told her. Merle hid his smile behind his coffee cup. She did now how to get people to do what she wanted.


	6. Chapter 6

Roberta told everyone to gather up. And then yelled at Addy, who was leaning against the bus sipping coffee and nursing her hangover. Roberta was talking, but she made sure Rick was standing next to her to lend her his authority. Her girls would listen to her but his people needed to know he was in agreement with what she was saying, which she knew he was because she had already talked to him. The plan was they were stopping for gas first. They had some stashed nearby. And then they were going to Hershel's farm. Beth had some things there she wanted to get before they left town and she had also told them there was a lot of canning equiptment and some medical supplies there the girls wanted to pick up. Then they were stopping at a big box store that was on the way to load up on food and supplies. Some other members of the girl's group would be meeting them there to help. Then they were going back to camp. It was still way before dawn so if everything went well they would be home by dinnertime.

Roberta made sure everyone understood that she was in charge while they were on the bus. Once she knew everyone heard her, Katie and Mandy got two huge bags off the bus and started handing out weapons and extra ammo to everyone. Mandy picked out a large machete for Beth and helped her hook it onto her thigh, warning her that it was super duper sharp. Some people traded in their guns for better ones and some people just wanted more bullets or a secondary weapon. Michonne noticed all the girls had guns and then a secondary, quieter weapon. Her favorite was the spiked bat that Addy carried on her back. Then she had a handgun with a silencer on her hip. Katie had a rifle and long machete, like the one she had given Beth. Mandy and Lexi both had swords on their backs and handguns on their thighs. Cassandra had a shotgun and a bat. Roberta had two handguns and a large hunting knife. She could tell Michonne didn't know much about guns, so she helped her pick out a smaller handgun that didn't have a lot of kickback and showed her how to fasten on the holster.

"Everyone ready to go?," Roberta asked. She got nods all around so she told them, "Lets fucking roll then." They all got onto the bus, looking for a place to sit. There were only seats in the front half, the back had been taken out to make room for people to sleep or for them to load stuff back there. Addy noticed Daryl was lingering by his motorcycle. She ran over and popped the back door of the bus open.

"You can bring it," she told him, "We have room in here." Daryl smiled and wheeled his bike over. Addy and Cassandra climbed inside and pulled it up while he lifted from the ground. Then they pulled him up and shut the door. He looked around the back. There were a lot of metal cages hanging from the ceiling where the girls kept most of their stuff. Mostly it was a lot of bedding and clothes and rolled up sleeping pads. There was a small fridge and a chest freezer but only the fridge was running. The cords to it went out the window and up to the solar panel that was attached to the roof. Daryl had seen that when they pulled up. It was smart. This morning they had used and electric water kettle to make the coffee and had not had to make another fire. Anything that wasn't bolted down was bungee corded into place. The seats of the bus had been switched around so they were two facing each other and one in the middle with the back taken off, making a footrest.

Sitting in a bus seat was much more comfortable when you could put your feet up, as Daryl found out after Addy led him over to one of the back seats and sat down with him. She took a big gulp of her coffee and leaned her head back against the seat, closing her eyes. This was one wicked hangover, she didn't even remember how she got to bed the night before. Since she had woken up alone, she figured nothing worth remembering had happened anyway.

Cassandra watched until everyone was sitting down and then she fired the beast of a bus up and headed it towards the gate. Rick and Glen were still out there, to open the gate, and once the bus was out she stopped so they could climb aboard. Rick saw Katie and Roberta were behind Cassandra, poking at a large paper map. They were not really arguing, but they were not agreeing on how they should get to where they were trying to go. Merle leaned up and asked them where they were trying to go. They read the street off the map and he told them to put it away. Then he sat behind Cassandra and started giving her directions. Rick was surprised that the girls seemed okay with this. In fact Katie was relieved, Merle knew the area better then they did and she didn't want to waste time and gas putting around here all morning trying to figure out where they were going.

When the got to the street the girls had been looking for, Cassandra slowed down and they all started looking out the windows. Then Mandy and Lexi started yelling, there it is, there it is.

"If you need to pee," Roberta told everyone, "now is the time so get your pee buddy." Rick laughed. Pee buddy? He understood the concept, that no one was supposed to be going off alone, but it was a funny way of saying it.

"Hey Carl?," Rick asked the boy, "how would you like to be my pee buddy?" Carl laughed. He supposed he did have to go. When they went down the steps, Addy was at the bottom rationing out toilet paper to whoever needed it. Katie and Roberta were yanking on a large metal chain that seemed to be attached to something underground. The tree above them was spray painted with a big neon pink heart so that must have been what they were looking for out the window. Whatever they were yanking on was not moving and now they were cussing and kicking at the dirt with their feet. Rick took Carl behind a bush so they could both pee. When he came out the girls were yanking at the chain again, their faces red with exertion. Mandy had ahold of the chain no and she was pulling with them, but nothing was happening.

Rick walked over and offered to help. Katie happily offered him her spot behind Roberta. He called Daryl over and Mandy moved. Then Rick counted off and they gave the chain a few hard pulls, really putting their weight into it. Finally whatever the long metal plate had been hung up on broke loose and the three of them went flying backwards. Rick landed on his ass with Roberta in his lap. Katie and Mandy clapped and jumped down into a waist deep pit, pulling out can after can after can of gas. Once the tank on the bus was full, they put the rest back and closed the pit back up, kicking dirt and leaves on top to hide it.

Rick hated to admit it but he was impressed. He also wouldn't mind getting a look at that map to see how many other hiding places like this one these girls had. Sitting down, he saw that now Maggie had taken Merle's place to give Cassandra directions back to the farm. It was no too far and they knew by now which roads were blocked. There was a large v shaped plow on the front of the bus, but they used that mostly for getting through herds of walkers, not for clearing out trees or other vehicles.

Maggie was oddly nervous to see her childhood home again. She was glad they were going, since she had some things she wanted to get. A picture of her mother that she had left on her nightstand, an economy sized box of condoms she had stashed under her bed and also some clothes and other personal items. Katie had explained to them that if it there were not too many dead around, they would take Hershel in. But in case the place was still swarming, he was to make sure and tell Beth and Maggie what he wanted because he was going to have to stay on the bus.

The place was not as badly mobbed with walkers as it had been the last time they had been there but quite a few of them were still lingering around. Katie could tell that Hershel really wanted to go inside so she assurred him that they would clear them out for him. Roberta stood up and so did the rest of the girls. Then she called up Beth and Michonne and Maggie. Rick took that to mean the guys were not invited to help. They were looking around at each other, not sure if they should object or say something. Merle spoke up, filling the awkward silence.

"Well lets see what you've fucking got then," he yelled at the girls. He had been out with Katie before, when she had been pretending that she was going to stay at Woodbury, but she had been puting on a little act, like she was so scared of the biters and needed him to kill them for her. He had a feeling, even at the time, that it had been an utter load of bullshit, and he wanted to see what she could really do. There were around thirty of the nasty stinking biters around, so not a totally unreasonable amount, but quite a few for nine girls to handle alone.

Beth was scared. She had not been sure what to do when Roberta had called her up. Katie leaned in and told her to stay close. That made her feel a little better. Then the girls got down off the bus and fanned out in a loosely organized V, like a flock of Geese. A few of them had strange looking necklaces around their necks and when they wound them up Beth saw that they were the guts taken out of music boxes. They sure got the walkers attention with those things. Soon the dead were coming at them and the girls were cutting them down, one by one. Katie kicked one in the knees, taking it down and stomping on the chest.

"This one is for you Beth," she told the girl. Beth stepped forward, griping her machete tightly in her sweaty palms. Then she plunged it into the monster's head and yanked it out, spraying a long line of blood across Katie's shirt and part of her face. "Hell fucking yeah," the woman yelled. Then she jumped up and went after another one. "You're short," she told Beth, "so you either have to take them out at the knees like that. Ot come up under them, like this." With that she thrust her machete under the chin of the walker closest to her, stabbing it up though the throat and into the brain. She pulled her knife back out and the thing flopped on the ground like a dead fish. Then she turned to Beth. "Now you try." Beth nodded. She could do this.

Another one was coming at them and Katie stepped back a little, giving the girl some room but staying close enough to help her if she panicked. The hardest part was letting it get close to her when every instinct in her body was telling her to run. Beth kicked it hard in the back of the knee. To her delight, it fell just like the one Katie had kicked. Then she stomped on its chest and stabbed it through the head. She pulled her long knife back out and looked at what she had done. Beth had killed her first walker. Some of the other girls were cheering her on, but Katie warned her, "Don't get too cocky." Beth smiled and followed the woman over to where the rest of the girls were clearing out the last of the dead.

Unable to just sit and not do anything, the guys were down off the bus by now, killing the walkers that were coming at the girls from around the other side of the bus. They were all impressed with what they had seen. These girls talked some shit, but it wasn't really shit talking if you backed it up. And that had been some bad ass zombie killing. The girls were well organized, they fought well, and they watched each other's backs. When the yard was cleared, they came over to congratulate Beth. Cassandra pulled off the music necklace off from around her neck and placed it over Beth's head. Then she kissed her roughly on the cheek.

"Welcome to the team princess," she told her.


	7. Chapter 7

Hershel climbed down off the bus. He noticed the tall thin woman, Mandy and her daughter were sticking very close to him and guessed they had been assigned to protect him. It wasn't every day a man got two attractive personal body guards so he decided he might as well enjoy it. Beth and Maggie were already inside helping to make sure the house was clear. He wasn't sure how he felt about these girls taking Beth under their wing. On one hand he was glad she was learning to take care of herself, Maggie had Glen to watch out for her but Beth didn't have anyone. But on the flip side of that coin was losing Beth. He guessed these girls went out on the road a lot, and he would not want Beth going with them. Aside from the obvious dangers, he could also see these girls had a flippant attitude about sex and drinking that he did not want Beth picking up from them.

Hershel used his crutches to pull himself up the stairs. Roberta was outside standing guard with Rick and her other girls were already dragging things they wanted to take with them outside and putting them on the porch. It looked like all the jars and canning equipment, medical supplies, food, and some cooking utensils. If they had time, Katie was going to take all the pillows and bedding as well. For some reason it seemed like they never had enough sheets and blankets. Once the stuff started really piling up on the porch, she grabbed a few people and they started loading it into the bus. She was handing a giant amish canner up to Cassandra when she saw the cows. Most of them had been ripped up by the big herd of Zs that came through but there were at least two over in the field next to the barn.

Back at her camp they had cows, but they were mostly for milking. Some were raised for meat but they usually butchered them in the fall and ate the meat in the winter. In the summer they mostly ate vegetables out of the garden or poultry and fish. These cows would make be a welcome treat and feed a lot of people back at camp. The farm her grandfather had built was set up to be self sustaining. But that was with one family living in it, not a hundred people. Since the outbreak, they had been having to get a little more creative. Katie elbowed Daryl, who was standing next to her. And then she pointed at the cows.

"Steaks tonight," she told him. Then she told Cassandra to hand her the sniper rifle from inside the bus. She didn't want to fire off a loud gun while they were still trying to get the bus loaded and that one had a silencer. Katie held the gun up, peering through the scope. "Think I could get one from here?," she asked Daryl.

"Don't be a dumbass," he told her, pushing the front of her gun down towards the ground, "Come on and walk slow." She followed his lead until they were right on top of the dumb cows. Then she held up her gun and popped the first one right in the face. Daryl shot the second one in the side. It fell but it was still alive and in a lot of pain, so he moved back so Katie could finish it off. Then she kneeled down and got her knife out, slitting its throat so it could start bleeding out. Then she cut a slit along the stomach so she could get the guts of before the thing started to bloat in the heat. Daryl stared at her for a second with his mouth open until she asked him whether or not he was planning to help her.

"Never seen a girl field dress her own kill before," he muttered. She smiled. He was clearly hanging around with the wrong girls then.

"Grew up on a farm," she said, "My daddy wanted a son. Got me instead." Daryl smiled at her. He liked her simple explanation. And she wasn't bullshitting either, she knew what she was doing. She was pulling the intestines out when her sister ran over with a bucket of water and a few large ziplock bags. Then Mandy took the guts and started rinsing them out in the bucket.

"For sausage later," she told Daryl. Then to Katie she said, "we are going to have to butcher this thing up out here, then we can back the bus up and load it on. I will go get some tarps and the hacksaw." Kaite nodded.

"Aren't you watching Hershel," Katie asked her.

"Its okay, Maggie's boyfriend said he had it." Katie nodded. As long as someone was with him she was fine with it. She just didn't want to lose their best find yet.

"Why you so worried about Hershel?," Daryl asked her. He had seen the girls were going out of their way to help the man and make him happy. And he guessed it wasn't out of the kindness of their hearts.

"Beth told us he was a large animal vet," Katie said, "we really need him." Daryl grunted in response. So all the stuff about having animals and a farm must be true then. They wouldn't be making such a big deal about getting a vet if they didn't have an animals for him to take care of. Mandy was back with more knives, tarps, a saw and a large mallet. Katie handed Daryl her hunting knife and suggested her get the other cow gutted while they started cutting this one up. She didn't come across bossy or bitchy, but she made it clear she was in charge. Daryl was glad he had a good view of them from where he was working. He wanted to see how they were going to butcher the cow.

They flopped the thing onto its back and skinned it. The poor thing then had its head unceremniously hacked off and tossed aside into the grass. Rolling it back over, they used a hacksaw to cut the carcass in half long ways. There was a lot of grunting and cursing involved in this process. It seemed at home they used a chainsaw for this part. Then Katie cut down between the ribs and the four neat sections of beef were flopped onto the waiting tarp. It took them about twenty minutes. By that time Addy had come over to help Daryl with the one he was working on. He had already rinsed the intestines out as he had been instructed and by the time they were rolling the cow into its back to skin it, Katie and Mandy had come over to help them. The four of them together made short work of it, the girls being more than happy to give Daryl the job of sawing through the backbone.

Everything in Hershel's house that was worth having was now loaded up onto the bus, with plenty of room left for the two cows. Cassandra backed the bus up as close as she could to the fence and they started handing the meat in. The girls had a few meat hooks they attached to the ceiling for when they got deer, so as much as they had room for got hung up, and the rest was flopped down on tarps they had layed out on the floor of the bus. Rick noticed Roberta was not helping to bring the carcass inside the bus. She explained she did not like touching the dead animals.

"That is all Katie right there," she said, making a face like she was going to puke. The woman had just killed fifteen walkers, with a knife, but she was acting like a little baby when it came to touching a dead cow. Rick liked the woman, it didn't bother him to find out she was squeamish about something. It made her seem more human and normal.

"Hey Roberta," Mandy yelled, "We saved you the tounge." She was waving a large bumpy cow tounge in the air.

"You bring that nasty thing on this bus and I will bust yo ass," Roberta told the woman, sending her and Katie into a fit of laughter.

"If you let me slap your ass with it I will give you a snickers bar," Katie yelled at her. Roberta did not look amused. Since Roberta was not going to come down from the bus under any circumstances, the girls swatted at each other with the nasty tounge, laughing and squealing. Merle was watching them and trying not to think about how they had gotten the better of him. He turned to head back onto the bus and was hit squarely in the middle of the back with something wet and heavy. It almost knocked him over. He turned to see the cow tounge laying in the dirt behind him and Kaite laughing so hard her face was red and her eyes were watering. She had seen him giving her a dirty ass look before he turned to walk away so she had decided he was taking himself a little too seriously.

Merle stomped over there, expecting her to take off running but she was laughing so hard so couldn't even get up off the ground. He had been thinking about roughing her up a little but now he could barely keep a straight face. Grasping her firmly by the arm, he hauled her up onto her feet. She flung her arms around him, giggling and gasping for breath. Roberta leaned out of the back door.

"You all want to play games, do it on the bus 'cause we got company," she told them. Katie leaned around the side of the bus, where she could see a large group of Zs coming at them. Merle boosted her up into the bus and then she and Daryl hauled him and Mandy up, slamming and latching the door behind them.

"Everybody here?," Cassandra asked loudly. Most people had come in the front door when they saw the dead coming but she didn't want to leave anyone behind accidentally.

"We are all here," Rick called out after he did a quick mental count of his group.

"Us too, hit the gas," Roberta yelled. Glen felt like they were driving so slow through the herd. You could hear the walkers moaning and hissing and banging against the sides of the bus. But Lexi told him it was better that way, if Cassandra gassed it and ran them over, they might get stuck on the bodies, it was better to go slow and nudge them out of the way. Finally they were clear of the herd and Cassandra picked up speed as they headed down the long driveway and back towards home.

Katie and Mandy were washing their hands and arms up with baby wipes. They still had a lot of blood on them from slaughtering the cows, Addy handed Daryl a box and he used a few to clean up his hands. Then she took one and leaned in close, wiping his face gently.

"You had a little blood there," she told him.

"Earning your red wings?," Merle suggested. Katie and Addy started laughing. Daryl just ignored him. He knew it was only going to get worse now that there were hot chicks around who thought his brother was funny. Merle was bad enough when he was only amusing himself. "Hey red," Merle said, gesturing to the seat next to him. Addy assumed he meant her so she got up and went to sit with him.

"How would you like to hear some stories about Daryl when he was a kid?," Merle asked the girl. Addy saw the look on Daryl's face. He was not amused.

"Maybe later," she suggested, and went back over to sit with the younger of the two brothers.

They drove for about two hours. Lexi had put on some music and people were resting or chatting. Some were passing around granola bars or jerky the girls kept for when they were on the bus. Addy was working on a piece of jerky, gnawing on the end of it, trying to soften it up and leaning against the back of the seat when something caught her eye out the window. She was on her feet like lightning. Katie and Roberta were also on their feet.

"Stop the bus," Roberta screamed. Cassandra hit the brakes. She stood up to get a look at what the girls had seen. It was Joe and his band of asshole followers. Normally they would not have stopped for them, especially when they had other people with them that they were trying to get back to camp. But the jerks had two women with them that they were leading around on ropes. While Cassandra backed the bus up, Roberta gave quick orders. Hershel was coralled into a strange square area he had noticed before. A seat had been removed and the area had been lined to make a kind of box. After he was lifted inside, he sat down and saw the box was made with welded steel and lined with bulletproof vests. Judith was handed in to him and he was told to stay down.

"You and you," Roberta said to Merle and Rick, "with us. Casssandra stay on the bus with the keys. Everyone else at the windows." Then she looked at Rick and Merle, "No one does shit unless me or Katie does it first, understand?" Rick nodded. These girls seemed to know who they were dealing with. Beth went to take up a spot at the window, but she saw all girls getting up, and Michonne was going with them like she was part of the group now. So Beth got up.

"Try not to look so scared," Lexi suggested to her. Beth nodded. She also took it as permission to join them. Roberta climbed down first, followed closely by Katie. They had their guns up, aiming them at the men. Rick expected the men to look scared, but most of them looked like they thought this was funny and only a few of them had their guns or bows up. A man with grey wavy hair stepped forward. Rick assumed this man must be the leader.

"Well well well," the man said, "If it isn't my lady Katherine. How are you doing sweetheart?" He noticed a few new women with the group he had not seen before. And there were guys with them, which was unusual. "Got a few roosters in the hen house I see," he added. And a few fresh fish, he thought, looking Beth up and down.

"Hi Joe," Katie said, "I'm doing just fine." The man let his eyes move up and down her body deliberately. He noticed the larger man with the thing on his arm did not seem to like that.

"I should say so," Joe said, "you sure are lookin' fine." Roberta was already sick of this guy. She had never cared much for his particular brand of bullshit, even if they had all been allies once.

"The girls Joe," she said, "why don't you go ahead and hand them over." The girls looked like they were probably around Beth or Lexi's age. It was hard to tell since they were so filthy. And someone had hacked the taller girl's hair off. She was naked under a large men's shirt that only had about one button left on it. Her hands were tied and one of the men had ahold of the other end of the rope. The shorter girl started to cry when she heard what Roberta said. She was wearing a short dress that might once have been green. It was ripped and torn. Her hands were free but one of the men had a rope tied loosely around her neck like a leash. At least they both had shoes on.

"No," Joe told Roberta, "We haven't had enough fun with them yet." Beth thought the girls looked like they had not been having much fun.

"Yeah," one of the men called out, "I haven't even had the little one yet." Joe turned and gave the man a look that shut him up in a hurry. The shorter girl was really sobbing now. The man that was holding her rope pulled her over and slapped her hard across the face. How many times had he told her to knock off that fucking whining. Rick was having a hard time just standing there, but he felt Mandy's hand on his arm.

"Have faith," she whispered at him, "Roberta and Katie can do this." Katie could see Roberta was rapidly loosing her patience with the men. She put her gun away and held her hands up.

"Okay," Katie said, "nobody needs to die today. You don't want to give them to me? Then I will buy them."

"Who says they're for sale?," Joe asked her. She gave him a big smile even though it just about made her sick.

"Everything is for sale," she quipped.

"One hour with you," he told her. Roberta was not happy with that remark. Katie threw her a look that said keep quiet.

"I don't have time to play games with you today," Katie told the man, "How about something else." Joe wasn't stupid. He knew the bus girls were not going to let him leave with his captives, even if they had to kill him so he figured he would just take whatever he could get out of them and they would just go find some new girls to snatch up. These ones were losing their fight anyway.

"What you offering?," he asked her. She tilted her head towards the back of the bus.

"Step into my office and we can talk about it," she said. He nodded and they headed down to the back of the bus to talk where everyone couldn't hear them. Merle did not like that shit one bit. Katie was standing way too close to that guy, within grabbing reach. And her posture was way too casual. And he was not impressed that this guy knew her name. While they were talking one of the other men used the opportunity to try and make some time with Beth.

"Hey there blondie," he called to her, "you want to ride my dick." He grabbed at his crotch and then added, "I bet you got a nice tight little pussy."

"Let her be," Roberta told the man, making him laugh.

"Cat got your tounge honey?," he asked Beth. She held up her middle finger at the man. She knew what the gesture meant, but she had never used it before.

"I wouldn't ride your dick if it was the last dick on earth," she informed the man. Now his friends were laughing at him.

"Maybe next time," he suggested.

Katie could see this talk better go quick or things were going to get ugly quick between the two groups. All she wanted to talk about was what she was willing to give him so she could get those girls and get out of here. But Joe had other ideas.

"Who's you friend?," he asked her, gesturing to Merle. He had seen the man hovering protectively close to Katie and he had also seen the look on the man's face when he had made a pass at her. The two of them were either doing the dirty or getting close to doing it.

"Nobody," Katie said, trying to end the coversation. Joe looked at the man and then looked back at her.

"You know you can't turn an outside cat into an inside cat," he informed her.

"Oh yeah," she said, "well I bet if I feed him some tuna I can get him to come inside." This made Joe laugh. Thats why he liked Katie. She was as quick as a fucking whip. He moved in and touched on her arm a little.

"You sure about that hour?," he asked her. It was taking everything in her not to punch this guys face in instead of smiling in it.

"How about dinner on us instead?," she offered, "we got two cows earlier. You can have a big side of beef." He thought this over. Steak dinner wasn't Katie's vagina but it was better than nothing.

"That much beef is bound to make a man thirsty," he hinted.

"The beef and a bottle of rum," she offered. He stuck out his hand.

"Deal." She shook it.

"Call one of your guys over and have him bring the girls with him," she said. Then she rapped twice on the back door of the bus. Cassandra opened it.

"Get me a bottle of rum," Katie told her. Joe came over to the door to get a look at the beef and see who else was hiding inside the bus. Katie waved Daryl over told him to hand her one of the beef quarters. The other man walked over with the two girls. Katie took the ropes off them and took them to the back door of the bus. Daryl and Glen lifted the girls quickly inside and Cassandra led them away and sat them down in a seat. Then Katie gave Joe the rum. He shoved it onto his pack and he and the other man pulled the beef out and set it on the ground. Daryl swung the door shut again and latched it, though he would have preferred Katie to be inside first. Katie turned to walk back to her group but Joe caught her by the waist and yanked her against him, kissing her hard on the mouth. When he felt her gun come up under his chin he let go.

"See you later," he told her. She walked back and ushered everyone back around the front of the bus and up the stairs. Once everyone was on Cassandra hit the gas, not even wating for people to sit down. Once the men were well out of sight she slowed down. Hershel and the baby were helped out of the cubby hole. And then Lexi and Katie set about helping the girls they had just picked up. First they gave them some wet wipes so they could try to clean up a little. Katie found some clothes for them while Lexi checked them for injuries. Hershel came back to see if he could help. The girls looked scared of him.

"Its okay," Lexi assured them, "hes a doctor, he won't hurt you." Hershel had the taller girl lay down on the seat and he poked at her stomach, then checked to see how bad the bruises on her legs and hips were. Physically she was going to be fine once she healed up. He couldn't speak for her mental state. Katie handed the girl a jar of carmex lip balm. She gestued to her private area.

"Helps with the chafing," Katie explained. The girl nodded and rubbed some of it on her crotch and behind. It did help a little. Then she pulled on the clothes the woman handed her. Another girl with dark red hair came over and gave her a bottle of water and a granola bar. The girl also handed her two pills.

"One is for the pain," Addy explained, "the other is so you don't get pregnant. It might make you a little sick to your stomach." The girl nodded and swallowed the pills down. "I'm Addy, this is Katie, and this is Lexi and Hershel," Addy told her.

"Kristina," the girl said, then she gestured to the girl that Hershel was examining, "thats Janelle." Then Kristina thought about everything these people were doing for her. If she had learned one thing about life after the turn, it was that nothing came free. "Why did you help us?," she asked. Katie smiled. It wasn't the first time someone had asked her that question. The truth was she helped people because it was the right thing to do. But she had found that answer didn't usually sit too well with people.

"Its a rough world out there for us girls," Katie told her, "we are stronger together." The girl nodded, she seemed to accept this. She was thinking that if all these girls had been with her when those men showed up, they would have been able to fight them off.

"Where are you taking us?," Kristina asked. Katie took her hands.

"Back to our camp," she said, "its run by women and no one there will bother you." Kristina wasn't sure if she believed the woman, a camp run by women seemed a little far fetched. But right now anywhere was better than here. "If you need anything, you just let me know," Katie told her. Then she headed up to the front of the bus to talk with Roberta.

Roberta was sitting with Rick and she could tell he was not happy with what had happened. He had really wanted to kill those men. And she couldn't say she blamed him. It would have made her happy to shoot them too. But that was not a good reason to kill someone. If Rick was going to be a member of her group, he was going to have to live by her rules.

"We should have killed them," Rick finally spit out. Roberta took his hand.

"Thats not what we do," she tried to explain.

"What if you are out and you run into them again," he asked.

"They live on the road," she said, "we run into them all the time. That's how they knew our names."

"But they could hurt someone else," Rick said.

"We have rules we live by," Roberta tried to explain. Katie was so much better at this than she was. "We don't kill anyone unless we have to. And today we didn't have to." Rick thought about that. It wasn't the worst rule to have. He knew Hershel would agree with it. And the more he learned about these girls, the more he trusted and respected them. They had risked their lives today to help total strangers, he wasn't sure if he would have done the same. He turned and stared out the window, suddenly realizing where they were. This was his home town. And he knew where a huge stash of weapons was in this town. He thought for a moment whether or not he wanted to hand them over to these girls or come back for them later. It was an easy decision. He stood up.

"Stop the bus," he told Cassandra.


	8. Chapter 8

**** If you have read this far I would love to get a review. As always I own nothing from TWD or Z Nation. ****

"Was it like this when you left?," Roberta asked. Rick shook his head. Even he was kind of creeped out by what he was seeing. What looked like zombie traps were set up everywhere. There were large wooden stakes sticking out in clumps and in the middle of them there were rats or squirrels in traps. One of them even had a cat inside. Roberta and Katie killed the walkers around that one, or gave them mercy, as they liked to call it. Then Katie grabbed the cage the cat was in. The poor thing was mewling and making sad pitiful noises. She unhooked it but made no move to let the cat out. Roberta was fine with helping the cat, but she would rather Katie let it go rather than bringing it with them. But she knew Katie would fight her on it, and decided it wasn't worth the argument.

They went inside the building where Rick said the guns were. It was very empty and very disappointing. It was easy to see that there had been a ton of guns in there, so at least Rick had been telling them the truth. He said he knew a few places in town where people kept guns. Roberta didn't think it was worth the time poking around for a few stray guns, but she could tell it was very important to Rick to contribute and feel like a worthy member of the group. He was the leader of these people, and making him happy could potentially go a long way when it came to the rest of the members. So it looked like they were going hunting for stray guns. Good thing they had their not so quiet new pet cat to help them.

Besides Roberta, Katie and Rick, Rick had brought his son Carl and Michonne had come along as well. They climbed over a few more of those traps and headed for a bar in town Rick knew. That was when someone started shooting at them. The girls were down, firing back. It looked like just one person and he was shooting at them from the top of a building. Then he vanished.

"I think I can get up there," Michonne said. Katie nodded and the two of them took off down an alley, appearing on top of the roof a few minutes later. But the man that had been shooting at them was gone. Katie gestured to Roberta. She and Michonne would go inside the building and see if they could flush the shooter out, Roberta was going over to the door to get ready for him. Before they even got close, the man jumped out pointing a gun at them. He startled Carl and the boy shot him. No blood was coming out, so Roberta guessed he had a flak jacket or some other kind of armour on. She knelt down and pulled up his shirt to check. He was wearing a vest. The bullet had been fired at close range, so he was going to be sore for a while, but he would live. Rick pulled his mask off. Roberta gasped. The man looked so much like her husband that for a second, she thought it was him. The back of her throat felt thick and she swallowed hard a few times, shoving her emotions back down inside her where they belonged.

"Morgan," he exclaimed.

"You know this guy?," Roberta asked him. He nodded. "Then why was he shooting at us?," she asked. Before he could answer, Katie was yelling at them out of an upstairs window.

"I think we found your guns," she called down to Rick, "be careful on the way up, this place is booby trapped." Michonne had taken down a large axe that was aimed at the doorway to the room they were in, but there might be more than that on the way up. It was a nice axe too, Katie was taking it. Next Z she saw was getting its head chopped off. She poked her head back out the window and yelled at them not to leave her cat down there. Then she and Michonne started filling up the empty gun bags they brought. This trip wasn't going to be a wasted one after all.

Katie had been worried at first that the man might have some accomplices hanging around, but once she saw the room he was sleeping and living in, it was clear he had been alone for a long time. Being alone for too long could make you go a little crazy. Or in this case, make you go a lot crazy and start writing on the walls and seeting up elaborate booby traps. Some of the people they brought in off the road were pretty wonky acting at first, but they usually came around. Rick and Roberta came in, dragging the man, who was still unconcious, with them, Carl was behind them, carrying the cat cage. Katie took a bottle of water and looked around for something to pour it into. Finding a small bowl, she opened the cat's cage carefully so it wouldn't escape and placed the water dish inside. It sniffed at the bowl suspiciously at first, but thirst quickly won out and it began lapping up the water.

Roberta and Rick put Morgan on the bed and Roberta took his vest off so she could see how badly he was hurt. Rick noticed that Katie and Michonne were not just taking a few things, but loading everything in the place up into bags.

"You can't take all his guns," Rick told them. Michonne ignored him and Katie looked at him like he was a total moron.

"They aren't really his," Katie reminded Rick. She saw he was just concerned for the man, so she added, "Don't worry we are bringing him with us anyway."

"What if he doesn't want to go?," Rick asked. Katie laughed.

"He'll go," she said. She had never met a single man that didn't want to come back to her camp with her once she invited them.

"How do you know?," Rick asked. Roberta laughed a little now and spoke up from where she was sitting on the bed next to Morgan.

"They are called boobs," she told Rick. Katie and Michonne laughed. Then Katie eyed the new member of her team.

"If my tits don't work we will just show him Michonne's ass," she said, giving the woman a light smack on the behind. Even Michonne laughed. She had gone through most of her life believing that being a woman put her at a disadvantage. And especially since the turn, she had really felt like it would be better to be a man. Meeting these girls and seeing how they embraced their femininity and used it to benefit them was making her realize she could have been doing that all along. And maybe what Andrea had been doing in Woodbury and not been so stupid after all.

There was a map of the local neighborhood hanging on the wall and Carl was looking it over. He found his old house and saw that it had a large X over it, and the whole street was labelled 'burnt down'. So much for going to get some of his things. He had really wanted to get a picture of his mother, for Judith, so she would someday at least be able to know what her mom looked like. Then he saw the bar where his parents used to hang out marked on the map.

"I will go down and see if I can get that gun from the bar," he said casually. Katie looked at him like he was crazy. She gestured towards the three full gun bags.

"I think we have enough guns," she told the boy. Seeing the disapointment in his face, she thought maybe there was something else he wanted to go there for. "You have something else you want from there?," she asked. Carl thought this over. He wasn't sure he wanted to admit about wanting the picture of his mom, but he didn't think he was getting out of there without telling the truth. He stared down, kicking at the floor with the toe of his shoe.

"There is a picture of my mom hanging in that bar," he admitted, "I want it." Katie felt immediate empathy for the boy. She was a mother herself. She exchanged glances with Michonne.

"I will take him," Michonne said.

"I will go with you," Rick said.

"No," Roberta told him, "you need to stay here in case your friend wakes up." Rick didn't like being told what he could and could not do, but he did think he better stay in case Morgan woke up. These girls were a little bossy, but he didn't want any of them getting hurt. Or hurting Morgan if he went after them. Carl waited to see if his dad was going to object. When he didn't, Carl headed down the stairs with Michonne trailing behind him.

Katie packed up the rest of the guns and then grabbed a large tupperware bin and started packing up the food. Rick thought about objecting, but changed his mind and decided he might as well help Katie, instead of standing there staring at her. Morgan started to moan and move around, his hand coming up to rub at his face. Katie hurried over and sat down carefully on the opposite side of the bed from Roberta. She took the man's hand in hers, partly to comfort him, and also to make sure he didn't start swinging on them.

Morgan woke up with a terrible pain in his ribs and a pounding headache. His vision was blurry at first, but when he rubbed his eyes, he saw two women leaning over him. One of them looked like his wife Jenny, and for a moment he let himself believe it might be her. Maybe he had died and gone to heaven. But if he was dead, why was he still in so much pain.

"Its alright," Katie said in a gentle soothing voice, it was the voice she used to calm down scared animals back on the farm. "You got shot," she told the man, "but you are going to be okay, the bullet didn't go through your vest." Morgan could feel the woman holding his hand. He started trying to sit up and the girls helped him, then Roberta grabbed a bottle of water and handed it to him.

"Do you know where you are?," she asked him. He looked at her more closely now. She didn't even look that much like Jenny, but she was still very pretty. Then he looked around the room. A man was standing a few feet from the bed. Then man looked familiar to him, but he couldn't place from where. Then it all came back to him in a swirl of terrible memories. He put his hand to his head and started yelling. Roberta backed off, getting her gun out of the holster, but Katie held her ground.

"Its okay," she told him, "no one is going to hurt you." She leaned in, rubbing his back. "Drink some more water and try to calm down," she suggested. The man was mumbling about someone named Duane and how he couldn't do it until it was too late.

"Duane was his son," Rick explained, "he was still alive last time I saw them." Katie looked at Morgan. If he lost his son she felt terrible for him. No parent should have to see their children die before them. Finally the man seemed to be getting a grip on himself. At least he wasn't screaming like a lunatic. He looked over at Rick and said his name, finally recognizing him. Then he saw all his things and weapons packed up into bags and boxes.

"What are you doing?," he asked. Katie took his hand again and smiled at him. She was very pretty, and he couldn't stop himself from smiling back.

"No one here will need this stuff," she said, "so we are taking it with us."

"What about me?," Morgan asked, "I will need it."

"Dont't worry, we are taking you with us too," Katie said. She took his hand between both of hers and rubbed it softly. "You have been alone too long," she told him. Morgan thought this over. He had been alone here for a long time. Maybe she was right, maybe it had been too long. Roberta saw the man trying to make up his mind. She put her gun away and sat back down on the bed next to him. Roberta wasn't usually attracted to men she met on the road, but this one was very handsome. She felt her face get a little hot at the thought of being so close to him.

"We have a safe place," Roberta told him, "would you like to come home with us?" Morgan looked at the two women and glanced at Rick, who was standing behind them. If Rick trusted these girls, then Morgan guessed he could trust them too. And they were so nice he might have gone with them even if Rick had not been there. And they way she said _home_ instead of our camp or our place appealed to him. He had not had a home in a long time.

"Yes," he told Roberta, "I think I would like that."


	9. Chapter 9

They had ended up with so much stuff packed up they couldn't carry it all back to the bus in one trip. Rick had offered to take Daryl, Glen and Maggie back with him to get the rest and the girls had happily agreed to this. Katie twisted the cap off a bottled water and chugged down about half of it in a few big swigs. Then she plopped down in the seat opposite Merle. He was scowling at her with his arms crossed. She tried to rack her brain for what he could be mad about. She had lied to him about them not having any more alcohol the night before and he had seemed a little pissed when he had not been invited to come on the run to look for the guns, but she guessed it really could be anything.

"How in the fuck do you know that guy?," he asked. She looked over at Morgan then back at Merle. She didn't know him, they had just met. And Rick had explained to all of them that he knew the guy when they had brought him on the bus. "Not him," Merle hissed at her, "the guy that was holding those girls prisoner." Oh, she thought, he must mean Joe. That was not going to be easy to explain. And she wasn't sure she wanted to try.

"We have just run into them on the road before, thats all," she said dismissively.

"Did his dick run into your cooter while you were on the fuckin' road?," he asked her. Katie almost choked on her water, spitting some of it out down the front of her.

"That is none of your business," she informed him once she recovered from her coughing fit. The fuck it wasn't his business. How many guys had this girl been fucking out on the road. Katie could tell from his expression that he wasn't going to let the subject alone until he got an answer. And it actually made her feel kind of good. If he was going to get that jealous over some idiot douchebag she met on the road, he might actually like her. She took a deep breath to calm herself down and then she told him the story of how her and her girls became acquainted with a group of men that disgusting.

 _They had been out on the road looking for weapons and supplies. Roberta had recently joined the group and this was the first time the girls had gone out alone without any men. They were scared, but also excited. All of the places they had checked for weapons had been a bust. They had a ton of bows and arrows, which were fine for hunting, but they needed guns to protect themselves from other people._

 _They had been hanging around the outside of Woodbury, watching the people inside the town before they decided whether or not to go in. They could see that they had a lot of weapons. When they went to back down they ran into Joe's group. After some back and forth threats, they figured out the men had been watching the town the same as them. They also wanted some of the guns and supplies that the people there had. And Joe had been watching the town longer than they had. He had seen what the people there did to travelers that tried to leave their town. They hunted them down and killed them._

 _At first Joe had been suggesting they all go in blazing and rob the place. But Katie and Roberta had convinced him to let them to let them go in, acting friendly. They thought they could win over the trust of these people and then get the guns without hurting anyone or getting hurt themselves. If Joe and his men would hang around outside and agree to come in and get them if they needed it, they would give them some of the guns. Since there was little risk to him if he followed the plan, Joe agreed._

 _The girls found it was easy to not only get let into Woodbury but to gain the trust of the men there as well. Merle knew most of what happened after that. Katie lured him away from the wall when he was on watch duty, while they were having sex, Cassandra brought out fresh coffee for everyone else. It was drugged and soon everyone on watch was fast asleep. Then the girls had come in and forced Merle to show them where the armory was. They had taken all the guns and left him tied up looking like an idiot. He felt a little better later when he found out Cassandra had fucked the governor that night and then tied him up after he fell asleep._

 _Once the girls loaded up their bus with the stolen weapons, they left. Katie and Roberta kept their word and gave a gun and ammunition to Joe and each one of his men. They also gave the men a ride out of the area and away from Woodbury._

"We ate with them," Katie said, "and we were drinking too. Everyone was excited about getting the guns and they were all getting wasted and fooling around. I was upset about what happened... you know with you." She looked down at her lap. "I drank way too much and I guess I must have passed out," she said, "when I woke up he was on top of me." She took another sip of her water. "It was my fault," she added, "I never should have let my guard down like that."

Katie's neice Lexi was sitting in the seat behind her aunt. Lexi had not been with them on that trip and she had never really heard the full story about what happened. She turned and leaned up and over the seat, hugging her Aunt and kissing her on the cheek. Merle wasn't really sure what to say about her story. He was feeling a little bad about the cooter comment now, that was for sure. Sometimes his mouth just ran away from him. He had been feeling like he might be just another notch on this girl's headboard and now he could see he had judged her unfairly. She was looking over at him now, waiting for some kind of response. He had no idea what he was supposed to say.

"Sorry I asked," he finally spit out. Katie laughed. He said the word sorry like it made him throw up in his mouth a little. She got up from her seat and slid in next to him, putting his arm around her and leaning her head on his shoulder.

"Its fine," she said. After all, they had tied him up mostly naked and Mandy had pistol whipped him, so she guessed he was within his rights if he wanted to give her a little shit for it. "But maybe now we can put that topic to rest?," she suggested. Merle thought about how she had told him the day before that she wanted to try and start over. He had not been ready then, but now he thought that maybe he was. After all, he had done a lot of shitty things himself, probably worse things than she had done. If she was willing to give him a clean slate, the least he could do was return the favor.

It seemed like they were driving forever when they crossed the state line into South Carolina. That was the call point. Mandy got the satellite phone out and called home. Most of the prison group perked their ears up They had not seen anyone use a phone in a really really long time. They couldn't hear what the person on the other end was saying, but Mandy was talking loud so that person could hear her, so they could hear everything she was saying very clearly.

"We are forty five minutes out from Sams club so have the guys meet us there... No the bus is full they need to bring the trucks and the trailers... Yes we do need a medical pickup... Two girls and one man and a baby... No we have enough people that can help, it would be better to have room for stuff... Yes, everyone is safe and sound... I love you too, see you for dinner... goodbye." Then she turned to Katie.

"Momma D says to tell you she loves you," she told her sister.

"Does that mean she is making me homemade noodles for dinner?," Katie asked. Mandy laughed. She had not asked about that. To make enough homemade noodles for everyone that lived at their camp was quite a feat in itself, but sometimes they would do it for the girls when they were coming back in from being on the road.

"She didn't know until now that we were coming back tonight," Mandy reminded her, "but I bet she will make them for you tomorrow if you ask her." Katie thought that over.

"If not we could make them ourselves this weekend," she said. Mandy nodded. During the week they had a team of people that made the meals for everyone. They were served up cafeteria style. But to give them a break, on the weekends people made their own meals and ate them at their own cabins or sometimes smaller groups would get together for meals and go to the main area to cookout or picnic. "We have a little while until we get to the store," Katie said, "Do you want to do the rules with everyone now so we don't have to do them when we get back to camp?" Mandy thought about this. She would rather not do them at all. It would be nice if they didn't have to have rules and people could just behave. But it had to be done. She let out a sigh and stood up.

"Hey everybody," she called out loud enough for everyone to hear, then she motioned for everyone to come in closer so she didn't have to shout. "Gather up everyone. We will be at our camp soon so I am going to go over the rules with everyone now so we don't have to waste the time once we get there, okay?" She waited until she felt like she had everyone's attention and then continued. Most people were interested to hear the rules they were going to be expected to live by. "Number one," Mandy started, "There is to be no sexual violence of any kind." She made sure to give each of the men a very serious look. "If you are in bed with a woman, you better make damn sure she wants you there, because if she doesn't, and your dick jumps out of your pants, you are going to be jumping off the roof of this bus into a herd of Z's, y'all understand me." She waited and let that sink in. That warning had been for the men, but it had also meant to make the girls feel safe, especially the ones they had taken from Joe's group. They did not tolerate any of that particular brand of bullshit from anyone.

"Rule number two," she went on, "No hoarding food in your cabins or trailers. You can take home leftovers you want for that night, or the food you intend to eat over the weekend, but that is it. The rest has to stay at the main kitchen area or in one of the basements." People did not seem as receptive to this rule so Katie stood up and gave a quick explanation.

"We had a lot of problems with people hiding food and keeping it in their homes, and a bunch of it went rotten and got wasted," she said. Now people were nodding in understanding. Hershel also guessed it took a lot of planning and counting to feed as many people as they had at their camp, and not knowing how much they because people were hiding it would make it that much harder. Katie sat down so Mandy could forge ahead.

"Okay," Mandy said, "Rule three. Everyone will get assigned a job to do. You have to do your job. No one should have to tell you to do it." No one seemed to have a problem with that, so she pressed on, eager to get this task over with. "Fourth is the noise level at night. We have a lot of people that have to get up very early to take morning watch or care for the animals. After nine or ten o'clock, we expect people to be quiet. Or if you want to drink and carry on you need to do it somewhere far enough away from the main cabin area that you won't bother anyone." That rule also seemed like common courtesy. No one was bothered by it. And she had not said that drinking and being loud was against the rules, just that they needed to do it away from people who were trying to sleep. Rick liked the sound of that, he didn't want a bunch of noisy people waking his daughter up at night. "Okay last rule is about the guns and weapons," Mandy said. Now people were looking nervous. They were afraid they might be expected to give up their weapons. "If you don't want to carry your gun on you all the time," Mandy said, "that is fine. But you need to make sure it is secure and away from where small children can get at it. Carrying a gun on you is optional inside the main wall, but you cannot go outside the main wall without one. And we would prefer you don't go outside the main wall alone. And even inside the main wall it is required that everyone carry at least their secondary weapon on them at all times. Most people carry a knife, but it can be whatever you are comfortable with as long as it will kill a Z."

Katie could see that people relaxed after they heard what Mandy had to say. People were always afraid they were going to be made to give up their weapons. The girls rarely had to take anyone's weapon away, and when they did, it was only because they thought the person might hurt themselves or someone else. And a few times they had disarmed someone who was drunk and acting like an idiot. In those cases, the person in question would be taken to the infirmary, where they could be kept under watch until they calmed down.

Now Mandy sat down and Katie stood up to see if anyone had any questions. People were twiddling their thumbs, or staring at their hands, or looking around to see if anyone was going to ask anything. But Daryl had a question.

"Hey," he said to Katie, "what if I get a deer."

"You can keep what you want for that day, and you have to turn the rest into the kitchen," she told him. He didn't seem to be too happy about that, but he made no further complaint. No one else seemed to have any questions, so Katie sat down. People went back to where they had been sitting before. Once most of them had dispersed, Katie turned to Daryl. "I was going to let you and Merle stay at my house," she told him, keeping her voice down, "and we have our own kitchen and basement storage. So technically _you_ don't have to give up the deer you get. But for anyone else not staying at my house or the main house, those are the rules." Merle listened to what Katie was telling his brother with some interest. He wasn't sure about living with her. And he wasn't sure he liked the way she had just assumed he would want to. But he did like the idea of getting special privileges, so he decided he would keep quiet about his reservations for now. He could always take off later if he didn't like it at Katie's place.


	10. Chapter 10

When they got to the store, the parking lot was already clear of walkers and there were people waiting for them with trucks and empty trailers. Along with the rest of the prison group, Beth was looking out her window with more than a little casual interest. One of the men she saw made her eyes fly wide open. He was easily the tallest and biggest man she had ever seen and he had his hair buzzed down short, but she could still see it was bright red. His arms had to be twice the size of her thighs. Next to him was a smaller version of himself that she guessed must be the man's son or maybe a younger brother. They looked too much alike not to be related.

There were two teenage looking blonde boys, and as they got closer, Beth could see they were identical twins. They also looked a lot like Katie, so Beth guessed they might be related to her somehow. Next to them there was a petite woman with long dark curly hair and a very round pregnant stomach standing with a young man that also had the same hair, except his was pulled back into a low ponytail. Over by another truck there was a strong and very tan looking man with silver hair that had seen so much sun it was almost white. He had a boy with him that looked about Carl's age.

Cassandra pulled the bus in and then backed it up to it was facing out and the back door was near the front of the store. Katie got up and popped the back door open. The big man Beth had seen caught her by the waist and lifted her down out of the bus, then wrapped her up in a big bear hug. Beth saw all the other girls were on their feet, heading towards the back of the bus and either jumping or getting helped down. Since she had decided the best thing to do was whatever they did, Beth got up and walked back there too. She saw Michonne doing the same. When Beth got close she realized the other tall man she saw must be the son of the really tall man. He was so big, she had thought he was a grown man, but when she got close to him, she realized he probably wasn't much older than Carl. He caught her by the waist, lifting her down out of the bus like she weighed no more than Judith.

Beth only came up to the middle of his chest, and she had to tilt her head back and shade her eyes to look up at him. He was giving her a warm smile. "That's my dad Tom," he told her, pointing to the huge man, "I'm Tommy." The boy was naturally friendly and open, he was always happy to meet anyone new that his cousin Kaite brought in. But he was even more happy to meet this girl, who was very pretty and looked like she wasn't much older than him. "Katie and Mandy are my cousins," he informed her.

"Beth," she said, sticking out her hand. He took it in his giant paw and shook it gently, his smile broadening. His dad was watching the encounter and trying not to laugh. Some men liked breasts, or big asses, but he had noticed his son was a sucker for pretty girls with big blue eyes. And there was no denying that this one was very pretty. As soon as he had seen her coming he knew his son was going to be buzzing around her like a bee to a flower. Kaite was done hugging her brothers, and now she was talking to the woman with the dark hair. Then she walked back to the bus and called to the two girls they had picked up earlier.

"Kristina, Janelle," she called, waving her hand to encourage them to come forward. Once they were down off the bus she introduced them to the dark haired woman. "This is Maria, she is one of our nurses," she explained, "she is going to take you back to camp and get a better look at your injuries. And then she will get you set up with clean clothes and a place to stay, okay girls." The girls nodded and Maria took them over to a van that she had waiting and ushered them inside. This was not the first time Maria had delt with girls in a similar position, they were in good hands. She used to be part of the group that went out on the road until she had gotten pregnant and decided to keep it. Kaite walked back to the bus, where most people now were climbing down and standing around in the parking lot.

"Hershel," she called to the man, "I am going to send you and Judith back with Maria too." Hershel came forward and Katie stepped back so Tom could help him down out of the truck. Carl brought Judith and handed her down to Katie, who turned and gave her to Maria. The woman walked slowly back to the van so Hershel could keep pace with her. She handed the baby to Kristina to hold. Rick was watching this scene, not quite understanding what was going on. When he saw Maria close the door on the van and start walking around to the driver's side like she was leaving he spoke up.

"Hey," he called out, "where do you think you are going with my daughter?" Maria looked at him like he was the biggest moron ever. He seemed to be getting that look at lot, from all these girls. Then she noticed someone she recognized.

"Hey Merle," she called, waving at the man. Merle gave her a little wave and then gestured to her stomach. She had been with the group when they had come to woodbury and if he remembered right, she had been pretty friendly with Martinez.

"Belong to anyone I know?," he asked her. She smiled at him, but did not answer his question. Instead she turned back to Rick.

"I am taking her back to camp to be checked over by the midwife," Maria told him, "did you want her out here in danger longer than she needs to be?" Rick stammered and stared at the woman. He did want his daughter safe, but he wasn't sure how he felt about some strange woman taking offf with her. Roberta stepped in.

"If you don't feel comfortable letting her go back to camp with Hershel," Roberta told him calmly, "you can go with them. But we could really use your help here to load supplies." She could see he was looking at her and then back at the van, uncertain. Placing her hand gently on his arm she told him, "we would never let anything happen to your daughter." Rick still wasn't sure. Then he heard a voice from behind him.

"I will keep and eye on her," Morgan offered. He touched the part of his ribs that were still very painful, "I don't think I will be much good for hauling supplies anyway. Roberta smiled warmly at him. She had forgotten he was hurt as well, he should be going back with medical anyway.

"Well if you're coming, lets go," Maria called to him. Her brother opened the side door for Morgan and then closed it once he was inside. Then he and Maria hopped into the front seats and fired the van up, pulling away quickly. Rick watched them until they were out of sight. He had chosen to trust these girls, and he hoped it was the right decision. Roberta rubbed his arm again and gave him a soft smile. She was really a beautiful woman. Then she turned and started laughing. Tom had a huge chunk of a log that had two thick peices of rope running straight through it and fastened into handles on the other side. He was calling it the door knocker. Katie was laughing like crazy. Rick looked confused so Roberta explained.

"We have been trying to get inside the pharmacy here for months," she said, "I guess they are going to knock the door in with that thing." Rick laughed. The thing looked funny but he figured it might work. At least it would be funny to watch them try to beat the door in either way. The blonde twins headed for the front door of the store, and used a key to unlock the huge chain that was wrapped around the doors. Roberta turned to Daryl and Addy.

"You two want to take watch?," she asked. Addy nodded and Daryl shrugged. "People will switch out with you when they get tired," she explained to Daryl. Then everyone else started heading inside the store. The people from the prison group were much more cautious, but soon noticed there were no walkers to be found anywhere inside.

"We already cleared it out and then locked up all the doors," Katie told Merle. Then she grabbed a cart, one of the big flat ones that a lot of stuff could be loaded onto. Then she turned and yelled at everyone else. "Hey, everyone will have time to get their own crap in a minute," she said, "first I want help loading up the big bags of flour and sugar and rice."

"First I am knocking that fucking pharmacy door in," Tom announced. She laughed and told him to knock himself out. Spying the stubborn door in question, Tom and his son got a goot grip on the ropes with the log between them and hollered charge, running full force at the door.

"We are going to need another medical pickup when those idiots get done," Katie mumbled. Merle laughed at her.

"Friends of yours?," he asked. She felt bad for not introducing him.

"The really tall one is my uncle," she said, "the other one is his son." He was relieved they were related to her but tried not to show it. When he had seen that giant man picking her up and hugging her, he had been worried that it might be a boyfriend of some kind. "These two here," she said pointing to the blonde twins, "are my brothers Greg and Gannon." They smiled at Merle and the one called Gannon gave him a little wave. Then she pointed to the older man, "thats Rich and his son Troy." Merle was about to say something back but there was a huge crash and then lots of clapping and applause. Katie turned to see her Uncle and cousin sprawled out inside the doorway of the pharmacy. The door was busted all to shit. She ran over to get a peek inside.

They were in luck. The place had not been touched at all. They were going to have enough antibiotics and painkillers to last them a long long time. "Anyone know anything about what pills are what?," she asked. Looking around, no one seemed to be volunteering and then Merle stepped forward.

"I used to sell drugs," he admitted.

"Good," Katie told him, "then you are in charge. Ziplock bags are in the last aisle on this side of the store. Pick you a few people and lets clear this place out." She gave him a pat on the arm and set off to go load bags of flour, pushing her cart in front of her. Merle looked around trying to figure out who he wanted to ask for help.

"Take some of the kids," Tom suggested, "they aren't much help with the heavy stuff anyway." Merle nodded. but made no move to call on anyone. "Lexi, Troy, and you," Tom said pointing to Carl, "y'all help him and don't be giving him any shit either." Most people were heading the direction Katie went, but the kids crowded around, looking up at Merle for some direction. Merle scratched his head.

"Okay, you two," he said pointing at the two boys, "go down and get a ton of ziplock bags, and some big garbage bags." The boys ran off in the direction Katie said the bags were. Then Merle and Lexi headed inside the pharmacy to get started. This place had really been a good score. It didn't look like anyone had been inside since the very beginning of the turn. He started by grabbing a large black marker and the biggest pill bottles he could find. Lexi watched him and did the same. "Write down what it is," he told her, "and then fill the bottle up. Tell me the name before you start. Some stuff here we don't need." Lexi nodded and headed down an aisle. This was going to take a while.

Beth was walking with Tommy. They got to the aisle where all the bulk baking supplies were. Katie was up on a metal stair case she had pushed over, handing big bags of flour down to Roberta, who was handing them to Rick. Glen and Maggie were helping Cassandra load up another cart with bags of rice and beans. Mandy and Carol were helping Tommy's dad and the twins load up sugar.

"Why don't you two get big tupperwares and put them on another cart," Tom told them, "then start packing up all the lemon juice and salt and baking powder and shit." Tommy nodded and they set off. Getting the cart was easy, and Tommy had been in the store before, so he knew where the tupperware bins were. They grabbed as many as they could and pushed the cart back over to the aisle. Then they each took one side of the aisle and started loading up. By the time they had one container loaded, Katie was pushing a cart filled to the brim with bags of flour past them and out to the bus. Tom went after them. It was usually his job to supervise the loading up of the trucks. A few minutes later, Katie was back with an empty cart. Glen and Maggie were pushing the rice out, and Maggie returned alone with a new cart.

Maggie had to say, she had held off on judging these girls. But now she was impressed. They had usually only come back from a run with no more than a backpack full. She was now aware of how unorganized they had been and how much gas they had wasted. In one trip, these people were going to get enough to feed themselves for the entire year. Back at the prison they had been living day to day. Cassandra smiled at her, flopping another bag of rice onto the cart.

"You shouldn't have to go on a run for a long time after this," Maggie commented.

"Not back here anyway," Cassadra said, "but we having a trading route we run every month."

"Trading route?," Maggie asked. She wasn't sure what the woman meant.

"Yeah, we have a few other camps we trade with," Cassandra said, "you can come along sometime if you want. Andrew's group is all guys, and some of them are cute. They wintered with us this last year, but during the spring and summer they live on boats off the coast. We trade with them for seafood. Thats why we have that big freezer on the bus." Maggie nodded and smiled, but she had to admit she was having a hard time believing some of this. She had started to wonder if there were any other people out there. So the fact that there were multiple other organized groups that got together regularly for trading was blowing her mind a little. It seemed like all the people they had run into had been hostile. Until now at least.

With enough dry stock to last the winter and extra for trading loaded up, the girls went back in for the rest of what they wanted, which was mostly alcohol. They were running out of room until Daryl had the bright idea to get his bike down off the bus and load that up too. The more liquor they had the better, in his opinion. Mandy had gone to help with the rest of the pharmacy, which really meant that she was filling up a huge garbage bag with all the birth control pills she could find. Katie poked her head in.

"What's your poison?," she asked Merle. He looked at her like she was batshit nuts. "We are loading up alcohol," she said, "what do you want?"

"Whiskey," he told her without any hesitation. She gave him a wink and took off. They loaded up all the cases of beer and liquor and wine they could fit and ended up even loading most of the seats in the bus. besides alcohol, they also took cases of bottled water, juice and soda pop. Glen about hit the roof when he saw a whole aisle of energy drinks, and he hurried to load up a few cases before there was no more room. Pillows, blankets and bags of socks and underwear were tossed in on top of the heavier stuff.

"I think we are done," Roberta said, looking at the back of the packed bus. They were going to have to squeeze three in a seat on the way back as it was. Katie agreed. She sent her brothers to go round everyone up and lock up the store. With so many people to help, the loading had gone quicker than it normally did. But she was still tired and ready to go home, get a shower and some food in her belly. Tom, Rich and Gannon were firing up their trucks. Daryl kicked on his motorcycle and Addy ran over and climbed on the back with him, hugging him tightly around the waist and resting her head on his shoulder. Katie waited for the last few people to climb onto the bus and then shut the door. Then they set off following the trucks, heading for home.


	11. Chapter 11

Daryl couldn't see anything riding behind the bus, so he drove around it and cut in front. He didn't know where they were going, so he stayed behind the pickup trucks. They drove about a half hour before they took a turn. Now they were driving with a huge brick wall on their left side. It was at least eight feet tall and looked thick. It was topped with about another five or six feet of metal fencing. No walkers were getting through that bad boy, though a very determined person might be able to climb it. Addy leaned forward, talking into his ear over the noise of the bike engine.

"Inside that wall is home," she said, hugging Daryl tight around the waist and leaning her body against him. She liked the feeling of him touching the insides of her thighs. Daryl tried to ignore her, but it was hard when she had been feeling him up the entire time she had been on his bike. This is why he didn't like bitches on the back of his bike, they were fucking distracting.

The wall went on for longer than Daryl thought it would before they pulled up to a large iron gate. He wondered how large the area was that the wall enclosed. A small sign next to the gate read **Fox Family Center for Sustainable Living.** Two women were guarding it, and one of them quickly hopped down from her post to slide it open for the caravan. Beth saw that Cassadra was waving out the bus window at the women and they were waving back. She wanted to wave too, but she didn't want to look stupid. They pulled down a long driveway that was wide enough for two cars to pass if they went slowly. After about a half mile, they came to another gate. This one was attached to a wall that was the same height as the first one they passed through. Two more women were standing guard on this gate, same as the last one.

The trucks pulled ahead, parking in a way that would make it easiest to unload the supplies. Daryl pulled ahead, weaving between them and parking where he hoped his bike was out of the way. Cassandra pulled the bus in and then backed it up, pointing the rear door towards the main house. Beth looked at the house. It was a large ranch style that sprawled out across the property. The walls were some kind of white washed brick. Towards the middle, the roof of the house peaked upwards, and she could see a lot of windows. It looked like some kind of loft or attic space. The girls started getting up and exiting the bus, so Beth stood up. She saw the rest of her group was doing the same.

Merle followed Katie closely. He didn't have much choice in the matter, since she was dragging him along by his one good hand. She let go and croutched down when she saw a small child running in her direction. It was a boy with fluffy blonde hair and Katie's blue eyes. Merle wasn't good at guessing the ages of children, but if he had to, he would say the kid was around two years old. He flung himself into Katie's arms, screaming mama, mama, and she swept the small boy up, hugging him tightly to her chest and kissing him.

"Mama missed you so much," she told the boy, "did you miss mama?" The boy clung to her in a way that clearly answered that question. She turned to Merle with a big smile. "This is Bash," she said, "well Sebastian, but we call him Bash because he likes to bash things." Merle wasn't quite sure what to say.

"You never said you had a kid," he stammered. Katie laughed.

"You never asked," she fired back. Before Merle could say anything else, an older woman approached them. She looked a lot like Katie, except for her hair, which was grey with streaks of white and pulled back into a long braid. Katie shifted her son to her hip so she could hug the woman.

"Katie bird," the woman said, "I missed you." Katie hugged her grandmother again and then turned to Merle.

"Merle this is Momma D," she said, "Momma D, Merle." The woman stuck out her hand and there was a little awkward juggling as he stuck out the other hand and she had to switch to her left to shake it. The woman had keen eyes, and the way she looked at Merle made him feel like she could see right through him. "Momma D is my MeeMaw," Katie explained. He had already guessed that, or something close. Then Katie added, "she is also the leader of our group." That he had not seen coming. The governor, hell even Rick, those were leaders he could understand. But this old grandma. There must be more to her than what met the eye. Or she had a lot of muscle to back her up, he thought.

"I take it this young man is going to be staying at your house?," the woman asked Katie. It was just a guess, but a good one. She had seen a funny light in her grandaughter's eye when she was introducing her to this man.

"Yeah," Katie said, "his brother too. I was going to give them the twin's old room." She looked around for Daryl and pointed him out to the woman. The woman spotted a handsome man that was being accousted by Addie and guessed that was the brother in question. There was some resemblance between the two men. Not really in their faces, but in the way they were built and their body postures.

"Well go on then," Momma D said. Katie looked surprised.

"You sure you don't want help unloading or settling everyone in?," she asked. Her grandma shook her head. Katie didn't need to be told twice. She grabbed Merle by the hand again, it seemed being drug around by the hand was something he was going to have to get used to. And she took off past the trucks to where a bunch of golf carts were lined up, the batteries charging. Then she called over to Daryl, motioning for him to come with them. He disentangled himself from Addie and walked over. Katie unplugged the cart from its charger and climbed in the driver's seat. Merle got in the front next to her and she placed her son between them. The boy kept well away from Merle, giving him suspicious glances and clinging to his mother.

Once Daryl was seated in the back, Katie backed the cart out of its space and headed down the driveway. There were a few different paths that went off from the main driveway, and Katie mentioned where they went, one went to the main cabin area, another down to the barns, they took the second one on the left.

"If you follow this road all the way back," she said, pointing to the way they had just come from, "it will take you back to the vineyards and the orchards and the winery." She could see everything she was saying was a lot to take in, so she added, "I will take you guys on a real tour of the property after dinner if you want." Merle nodded.

"You have a winery?," he asked. Katie laughed. Of course that was the one thing she said that interested him. Back in real life, people used to pay to come on tours and visit the winery. They also used to pay to stay in the hunting lodges outside the inner wall and to hunt in their woods, which were fully stocked with at least ten different kinds of deer and any other animal you might want to hunt. And they had special hunting licenses here, so people could hunt anything they wanted at any time of the year as long as they did it on the property. They also used to have wine and beer making classes, and riflery lessons. In the summers, they used to have camps for underpriviledged girls where they taught them self esteem. Katie used to run an online organic seed business and they sold fresh fruits and vegetables, along with expensive grass fed meats to local grocery stores and restaurants. That had worked out to their advantage, since they were already used to growing way more than they needed for their personal consumption. Mandy and Momma D had also run a booth down at the local farmers market that always made them a bundle.

Katie pulled up outside a large white house with brick red trim that was done up to look a bit like a country cottage. There were garden beds and plants growing everywhere. Daryl had noticed when they were driving over that almost every available spot that could be used to grow food was being used. There was hardly any grass anywhere. Katie parked next to another golf cart and took that one off the charger, plugging in the one she had used to drive over. Then she pointed to a small shack that was painted up to look like the house.

"Thats the outhouse," she said, "so if you need to go, thats the place. If someone is in it, theres another one over on the other side of the house near Mand'y's door."

"Outhouse?," Merle asked her, "theres no toilets inside?" This place looked pretty nice, so it seemed strange that he would need to use an outhouse.

"Its a composting outhouse," Katie explained, "we are not hooked up to any kind of sewage system. The water we use to shower and wash dishes comes out down there." She pointed to a long rigging of pvc pipes. "We are totally self sustaining here, so everything is run on solar and wind power, water from a well, and any waste we make, we have to find a way to get rid of it." Daryl walked over and opened the door, peering curiously into the outhouse. It didn't smell bad inside, which surprised him. Katie's son ran over, happy to inform the man of what he knew.

"Peepee," he said pointing to one of the seats, then he pointed to the other one, "poopoo." Then he ran back to his mother, who praised him on what a smart boy he was. She picked him up and opened a sliding glass door to head inside. Merle and Daryl followed her. They walked into what appeared to be the kitchen and dining area. There was on old upright piano against one wall and on the other a large fireplace that you could see though into the next room. There was a big woodgrain dining table, where some food items from the garden were spread out. The pregnant woman who had come to pick up the injured people from the store was in the kitchen, washing lettuce in the sink. A girl that looked about five or six years old was helping her. The kitchen was spacious, with long counters and a large island. There were two stoves and two sinks and a industrial sized fridge. Katie kicked off her boots by the door.

"Hey Maria," she called to the woman. Maria leaned around to see who Katie had with her.

"New roomies?," she asked. Katie nodded. "Good," Maria said, "it was getting a little estrogen heavy around here with the twins gone."

"Yeah," Katie agreed with a laugh, "but it does smell better." Merle and Daryl were hovering by the door, not sure what to do. "Kick off your shoes and come in," Katie told them, waving them into the kitchen. Then to Maria she said, "Will you watch Bash for me while I get washed up?" Maria looked at the boy and then gave Katie a dirty look.

"I don't know," she said, "is Bash going to behave?" She gave him a questioning look. The boy shook his head. He had no intention on behaving. In fact, he saw a choice basket of eggs sitting on the counter that he was thinking about bash smashing. Maria laughed, "at least he's honest." Katie set him down on the kitchen floor with a strict warning to behave and waved Merle and Daryl to follow her upstairs. She pointed into the open doors once they were up there, Maria's room, the kid's playroom, Jose's room, bathroom.

"And this one is your room," she said, pointing in, "you can use the bathroom across the hall and there is a closet in there with towels and sheets and blankets." Daryl stepped into the room. It wasn't half bad. There were two beds, one on each side of the room and plenty of space. Two closets and two dressers. "You can get some clothes out of one of the storage units later, but I will get you a few things from my room to hold you for now." She headed down the hall and returned with what Daryl was relieved to see were not women's clothes. Daryl grabbed a few things and went into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. Merle leaned in close to Katie.

"Where's your room?," he whispered into her ear. She wrapped her arms around him, pressing her breasts against his chest.

"Would you rather stay in my room?," she asked, "I didn't want to just assume." He nodded and pulled her closer. She kissed him softly and then pulled away, leading him down the hall to her room. Merle looked around. He had never seen a girl's room that looke like this. Lots of woodgrain and dark green, and a big bed piled high with pillows. A sliding door opened out onto a wooden deck, where we could see some lounging chairs, plus a small dining table and chairs. The walls of the room were lined with bookshelves. It looked like more books than he could read in a lifetime. There was a comfy easy chair in the corner with a lamp next to it. A book was upside down on a small table next to it, making the spot where she had been when she set it down. Over near the bed, a door opened into a large bathroom. It had a large tub, the kind you could acutally take a bath in and be completely covered in water up to your chin, and the shower was big too, a tile one with glass doors and two shower heads. She saw Merle looking into the bathroom with interest.

"I am a little high maintenence when it comes to my showers and baths," she admitted. Then she warned him, "some of the girls like to come over and use my tub, so you might come back to find people in there from time to time." She went into the bathroom and opened another door that led to a large walk in closet. "The stuff on this side is mine," she said, "but the stuff here used to belong to my husband, you and your brother can take whatever you need, I think most of it should fit, but it might be a little long." Katie had been meaning to have someone come and get that stuff but then it seemed like she never got around to it. She ought to ask her brothers to come and get it all and take it down to the storage containers where they kept all the extra clothes and shoes and things. It didn't seem important before, but if Merle was going to stay with her she thought it might be nice to get the stuff out of there and make some room for him to put his things. And she had been hanging on to that stuff for longer than was really healthy for her anyway.

Katie reached into the shower and turned both the spouts on, adjusting the water so it would warm up. Then she started undressing, tossing her stuff in a laundry basket near the bathroom door. She saw Merle was just standing there, looking at her and staring around at his surroundings.

"There's two shower heads in there," she told him. That seemed to snap him back into focus and he started pulling at the straps on the arm peice he wore, taking it off. Katie left him to it and stepped into the shower, sliding under the water and letting out a little sigh of enjoyment. She soaped up, washing her hair twice and scrubbing at her feet, which always seemed to get dirtier than the rest of her when she was on the road. Then she just stood under the spray, letting the hot water relax her muscles. If she wasn't so hungry, she might think about going straight to bed and sleeping the hard sleep she always got in her own bed after a week on the road. Merle came in and picked up a bar of soap, sniffing at it first to make sure it didn't smell too girly. It looked homemade, like the fancy little bars in shops that only sell things that people don't need. At this point, anything that got the dirt and grime off was good enough for him.

Waiting until he was done washing and rinsing up, Katie turned her spout of and slid under the one Merle was using with him, pressing her mouth on his and reaching between them to manipulate him with her hand. Then she was kneeling in front of him, taking him into her mouth and letting him move his hips to slide him in and out. She closed her eyes, her hands on his hips to be sure he didn't push in too far and gag her. The first time he saw her, Merle's first thought was that she had a mouth that was meant for dick sucking, and he knew now he had not been wrong. She had full lips, a soft wet tounge and she went easy with her teeth. He slid in one last time, just a little further than he guessed was comfortable for her. And then she felt him spill into her mouth. Kaite pulled back, spitting the contents of her mouth down the drain and standing up to rinse her mouth out in the water from the shower.

"Done?," she asked.

"I think thats about fucking obvious," Merle told her. She smiled.

"I meant done showering." He laughed.

"Yeah." She pulled the handle on the wall, turning the water off and then stepped out onto her bathmat, grabbing a towel and handing the other one to Merle. Then she ignored him and went about her business as usual, combing her hair and brushing her teeth, walking around naked with her towel on her head while she got dressed. She had rough wear clothes that she saved for when she was on the road, but for dinner she put on a short lightweight cotton dress that flattered her curves. It was the same color blue as her eyes and she always got a lot of compliments when she wore it. Then she slid on some sandals and headed downstairs to make sure her son wasn't destroying the whole kitchen.

Roberta took Rick over to where he and Carl were going to stay. It was an A frame cottage in a row of cottages. There was a road down the middle and another row of cottages across it. Everywhere he looked he saw women. Young ones, middle aged ones, tall and short, curvy and thin, some carrying or walking with children. They all stared when he passed by them with Carl. Some looked scared, but others just looked curious, and a few looked like they might be interested. There was a very pregnant teenage girl sitting on the porch next door.

"That's Rich's daughter Taylor," Roberta said, "he is going to be your neighbor." Rick had not exchanged more than a few words with the man, but it made him feel a little more relaxed to know he wasn't going to be surrounded entirely by women. Roberta rapped twice on the door and opened it, heading inside. Rick followed her. Two women were sitting on the couch inside, and one of them was holding Judith. The other one was cooing at her. The women looked middle eastern or maybe indian. They had colorful scarves over their hair, but both were pretty with dark almond shaped eyes. Judith started to fuss and pull at the woman's shirt that was holding her. To Rick's surprise, the woman pulled her shirt back and began feeding his daughter from her breast.

"Rick and Carl," Roberta said, "this is Selena and Zara." The girls smiled at him.

"Father of baby Judith," the one who was feeding her asked with a thick accent. Roberta nodded. Then she thought she better explain what she knew was going on, since it seemed no one had bothered. "Zara lost her baby about a week ago," Roberta said, "her milk came in anyway and she said she was willing to feed your daughter. We thought it would be a good match." Rick nodded. He wasn't really sure what to say about that, and had not been asked his opinion on the matter anyway.

"Hershel say is OK," the other woman said. Rick realized he must be staring rather rudely at the women, making them nervous. Of course it was okay if she was willing to feed his daughter. It did make him nervous about how attached to Judith she might get, especially since she had lost her own baby, but that was something he could worry about later.

"Of course its okay," Carl said, coming to the rescue and making the women smile, "thank you." He tried not to stare at the woman's exposed breast. Since the rest of her was so bundled up, it seemed even stranger that her breast was exposed. Roberta told the sisters that it was their job to show Carl and Rick where they could get fresh clothes and a shower. And to bring them down for dinner. Selena nodded. She understood english better than she could speak it.

Hershel had already taken a shower and was pleased to be dressed in clean clothes. He was going to be part of the medical team, so he was staying at the main house with Beth, who was off getting settled in. Glen and Maggie had stopped in to say a quick hello. They were going to be staying out at one of the trailers out behind the cabins. Hershel guessed that they were going to be happy to have a little more privacy. Since he was missing a leg, he had already been given his own golf cart to use, and one of the girls had marked it with his name so everyone would know not to use it. The woman everyone had been calling Momma D had offered to take him on a tour later, but right now she was busy preparing dinner. He was perfectly content to sit on the porch drinking iced tea and watching the people here go about their normal lives. From what he had seen so far, he guessed that the population of this camp had to be at least eighty percent women, maybe even more. And it showed in the system of cooperation that ran this place. All the injured people had been delt with quickly and kindly.

From where he was sitting, Hershel could see the large pavilion that he guessed served as the dining hall. It had thick canvas curtains that were drawn up on all sides that he guessed were used when the weather didn't allow outdoor eating. There was a large building next to it that served as the kitchen. Women were coming out of it with food, setting it up on a few large metal buffet servers. They were also bringing out stacks of clean plates, cups and silverware, getting them set up. Hershel heard a rustling noise over on the ground near the side of the porch. When he looked he saw two girls peeking through the railings, looking at him. They looked to be about eleven or twelve years old. Hershel held his hand up, giving them a little wave. This sent them running off squealing and screeching. He laughed. Guess all the men in his group were going to get some curious glances. He wondered how they were going to handle it. Glen would probably have it the easiest, since he was with Maggie, and it already seemed Daryl was going to have it the worst, having already been made the subject of a lot of unwanted female attention.

Glen and Maggie had showered and were getting settled in their new place. It was a small one bedroom trailer. They had to use a community shower and bathroom, but it had a sink and a small fridge where they could keep cold drinks or make ice in the tiny part of it that served as a freezer. The trailer opened to a large wooden deck that they shared with the trailer next door. They had not met the occupants yet, but had been told that it was another couple. There was an outdoor dining table on the deck, some lounging chairs and a really nice looking charcoal grill. Just like she had done with the women, Maggie had been trying to hold back her judgement of this place until they were here longer, but she was having a hard time not already thinking of it as home. They had a nice big bed, that she had made up with fresh sheets and blankets. Showers and clean clothes. Just those luxuries made it about a thousand times better then the prison. She was a little worried about how the men in her group would be treated here. Were they a wanted commodity or unwelcome intruders? She wasn't sure if she should be worried for Glen, or afraid another woman might come on to him.


	12. Chapter 12

Dinner had been the first sit down dinner anyone from the prison group had in a long time. Probably since they had been back on Hershel's farm. And there had been plenty for everyone. When one of the girls Carl and Rick were staying with saw the boy holding his plate up to lick it, she had taken it from him and come back with another helping. The best thing was the bread and cheese. Rick could not remember the last time he had cheese, and he had not realized how much he missed it. He felt like he could eat a cheese sandwich everyday for the rest of his life and be perfectly happy.

"Take bread home," Zara reminded the man, "eat tonight." Rick remembered the rule about not hoarding food. But taking some home for later tonight was allowed, so he grabbed the end of a small loaf from the middle of the table and wrapped it up in his napkin to take back to the house for later. Roberta had been sitting with him, but had left to go to a table up on one of the porches where it looked like some kind of meeting was taking place. Some of the bus girls were up there, along with Rich and Tom, two of the men from the store. There were also a few people he didn't know at the table. Hershel was up there, sitting next to the woman Rick knew was the leader of this camp.

Rick saw Lexi come down from the meeting. She was stopping at the tables where his people were sitting and leaning down to tell them each something. After she spoke to them, they were getting up and taking care of their dinner things. She saw Rick and Carl and headed in their direction.

"Momma D wants all the new people to come up to the meeting," she said. Then she walked off without giving Rick a chance to ask her any questions. He and Carl got up and took their dishes over to the area they had been told to put them. There was a few bins of warm water, and he could see the ones that were full of dishes were already being taken into the kitchen and washed by some of the women and a few older children. Rick could tell by the expressions on the faces of most of his group that none of them knew why they were being asked to go to the meeting. Most of them looked nervous. However, Daryl and his brother looked oddly calm. As he approached he heard Merle talking to Daryl.

"Katie said it wouldn't take very long..." It irritated Rick that Merle seemed to know what was going on and he didn't have any idea.

"Whats the meeting about?," he asked the men as he walked next to them out of the dining tent and up towards on of the big stone porches.

"Assignin' jobs," Daryl told him in his usual direct way. Rick felt himself relax. He didn't mind being assigned a job. And he doubted anyone else in the group would either. Being given a job was like being given an invitation to stay. And he didn't need his people to tell him that they wanted to stay. You would have to be more than stupid not to see how nice it was here.

At the meeting, most people were sitting around a large table, but some were perched on the railing of the porch. That's where Roberta was so he took the spot next to her. He noticed the woman they all called Momma D seemed to be in charge of this meeting, though Katie was sitting close to her, with Hershel on the other side. Momma D waited until everyone was seated before she spoke.

"As most of you know, you are all here to get a job assignment," she started. Then she explained how the jobs there worked. The people at the meeting were there because they were in charge of a specific job team. Once you were assigned a job, you reported to your team leader. If they had no work for you, then you were to go and check the large chalkboard in the living room of the main house. There the team leaders would write down things they needed help with. As an example Momma D told them Garden team often needed extra help this time of year since they were pulling in most of the food that would feed them during the winter. And Cook team often needed help since they were preserving most of the food that the Garden team brought in. She assured them, looking at the men mostly, that it wasn't necessary for you to know how to cook in order for you to help in the kitchen. Then she started handing out job assignments.

"Hershel is going to be the new team leader of our medical team," she said. This was greeted by lots of clapping and foot stomping from the people at the table. "He is also going to be checking in with all people in charge of animal care." Several people nodded and Rick guessed they were the ones in charge of animal care. "Some people we already know where we are putting." She pointed to Daryl and Merle, "you two are on hunt team. You report to Rich." Merle already knew that, and he had spoken a little with the man before dinnner.

"Michonne and Beth are on security with me," Roberta spoke up from her perch on the railing. Momma D gave her a nod to let her know that was fine with her. Now some of the other team leaders started jumping in, claiming people they had their eyes on. A young woman with long dark hair and a tattoo on her shoulder spoke up. She pointed at Maggie.

"Your father said you grew up on a cattle farm?," she asked. Maggie nodded. "How'd you like to help me with the cows then?," she asked.

"That sounds good to me," Maggie said. Glen was looking like he had something to say but the woman beat him to it.

"You want to be on the same job team as Maggie," she said, "I will take you too." He nodded his agreement, which caused giggling from some of the girls at the table.

"Who did most of the cooking for your group?," Mandy asked. She saw most of the people looked at the older woman with the short grey hair. "You?," she asked Carol. Carol nodded. "I will take you on Cook team then, and I think I will take those two." She pointed to the girls that they had picked up from Joe's group. That left Morgan, Carl and Rick still without jobs.

"Any of you like to garden?," Katie asked. She always needed all the help she could get. She was kicking herself now for being to busy smiling at Merle and had missed out on calling dibs on either of those young girls Mandy had picked for cook team. Morgan raised his hand tentatively.

"My wife and I used to grow tomatoes in our backyard," he said. He was rewarded with a huge smile from Katie, who then turned to stick her tounge out at Mandy. Then she turned her attention to Carl.

"How 'bout you kid?," she asked, "you want to learn how to grow some food?" Carl thought it over. He was always hungry, and had already thought about volunteering to work in the kitchen. But learning to grow food sounded interesting to him. He nodded. Even though Mandy had gotten three new people and she only got two, Katie thought she had the better end of the deal. Morgan was hurt now, but that guy looked like he could haul some serious dirt.

The person they couldn't figure out what to do with turned out to be Rick. All he had ever done was work as a cop. And Mandy was quick to point out that they didn't need any police. He wasn't a very good cook, and he knew nothing about animals or growing plants. Finally the large man with the red hair came to his rescue.

"Can ya swing a hammer?," he asked.

"Yeah," Rick said.

"We can take you on maintenance then," Tom declared. He didn't really need anyone, but he knew this man was the leader of the group they had brought in. That's why none of the girls wanted him on their teams. No matter who took him, he was going to try and take charge. Tom slapped the back of an older hispanic man next to him.

"This here is Angel," he said, "and we do the maintenance around this place." Rick wasn't sure why, but several of the girls started laughing.. Addy leaned in and whispered to Daryl.

"Especially the maintenance on the marijuana plants he grows," she remarked. While the men did fix almost anything that broke, they also spent a lot of time brewing beer and wine and growing pot. Daryl started to laugh and turned it into a cough. This was going to get interesting. He wasn't sure why they hadn't assigned Rick to security or maybe the hunting team he was on, but he was sure these girls had their reasons.

"Did we forget anyone?," Momma D asked. She looked around, tying to see if there was anyone that had not been given a job.

"I think we are good to go," Katie said, reaching under the table to haul her son out from where he had been playing. Momma D stood up.

"Okay! Everyone be in the dining tent for breakfast, your team leaders will pick you up there. If you are injured or hurt, do not be afraid to take another day to rest of you need it." The team leaders already knew who was hurt, so Momma D knew her girls would keep and eye on them and make sure to send anyone home who started to look fatigued. People were getting up, pushing in their chairs, and getting ready to go about whatever plans they had for the evening. Katie had her son balanced on her hip.

"Are you giving them a tour?," Addy asked her. Katie nodded.

"You want to come? If you would drive, I can hold Bash in the back seat and maybe he will go to sleep," Katie suggested. She could tell he was tired by the way he was leaning his head on her shoulder. Addy smiled down at the little guy.

"Sounds good," she said, "what have you guys seen already?" She turned to Merle and Daryl for an answer.

"Nothing," Katie said, "just the dining tent and my house." This got Addy going. She was excited to show their place to anyone new, people were always impressed. But showing it to a man that she liked was even more fun.

"What do you want to see first?," she asked Daryl. He turned to see if Katie was going to rescue him again. But she was smiling at his brother. He tried to think of the things Katie had mentioned that they had here. It had been a lot of information to take in all at once. Addy was looking at him expectantly.

"Y'all got horses here?," he asked.

"Yes," Addie answered.

"Guess I will take a look at them," Daryl said. Addy took his arm and started walking over to the row of golf carts, jabbering at him about the horses. How many they had, and how many baby horses they had and which ones were good for riding. Merle was having a hard time not laughing at his brother. Katie took his hand and he was grateful in that moment that the woman that had staked her claim on him was a woman, not a girl, and that she was not jabbering at him a mile a minute. The hand holding he guessed he could put up with.

"Whats so funny?," she asked him quietly. She had seen him smirk when his brother asked about the horses.

"Nothin'," he said, "just Daryl has always loved animals since he was a kid. Used to beg me to take him down the street to look at these dirty old goats some lady kept tied up in her yard."

"And..." she asked.

"And goddamn that bitch can talk," he admitted, gesturing to Addy. Katie giggled. Addy was going about a mile a minute. Katie guessed she was nervous. They didn't get a lot of guys around here and Addy was one of the few women that actually missed them. Addy took the drivers seat in the small cart, with Daryl next to her, not sitting as close as she would like. Merle climbed into the back seat after Katie. She was leaning into the corner, cradling her sons head in one arm and patting him on the back with the other. She let Addy take over the tour, driving around and showing the guys everything there was to see. Merle had not been able to tell how big this place was from outside. It had to be at least four times the size of Woodbury, and that was just inside what the girls called the inner wall. The setup was ideal. The outer wall not only acted as a second barrier, it kept the walkers far enough away that the sounds of everyday living inside the second wall could not be heard. So they never had to worry about them piling up and pushing the wall down.

He had originally been thinking about ditching out with his brother once they got here. But now he was having secon thoughts. A lot of them. They were not going to find a nicer place than this. That was number one. And all they were being asked to do was spend their days hunting. Point number two. And Katie. He wasn't sure if she was another good thing or a reason to leave. He watched her while they were taking their tour, trying not to be too obvious about it. She was holding her kid, who had fallen asleep in the first five minutes of the tour, leaning her head against the bar on the side of the golf cart. When they got out with Addy to look inside a few of the buildings and barns, she had stayed in her seat. Now the corner of her mouth was turned up in a little smile. Merle found himself wondering what she was thinking about.

"Penny for your thoughts?," he said to her. She lowered her eyes to his groin and then back up at his face. Then she gave him a soft little smile and bit at her lower lip.

"I was thinking when we get back, I want to get this baby into bed and get myself a nice big glass of wine," she said. He had a feeling she was leaving out what she was thinking about doing after the wine and he found himself smiling at her. Then he pulled her over so she could lean against his chest instead of the hard metal bar on the side of the cart. "Had enough of the tour yet?," she asked. Merle nodded. He had about enough of listening to Addy, that was for sure.

"Hey Addy," Kaite said, "Rich can show them the rest tomorrow. Lets go back to my house and have some wine."

"What kind of wine have you got?," Addy asked her. Katie yawned and snuggled a little closer to Merle, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Not sure, you can pick one from the basement when we get there." Then said more quietly to Merle, "Mandy said she was going to get a case of the whiskey we picked up on the run today, so there should be some in the basement if you would rather have that." Well that settles that, Merle thought. Katie is the official third good thing about this place. Even if she doesn't swallow. A girl that hot, he was lucky she even gave head in the first place.

Katie went upstairs to put her son to bed and came down in what she called her comfies. An old worn pair of grey yoga pants and a big stretchy t-shirt that had the collar cut out so it hung off one of her shoulders, baring her collarbone. She saw the wine Addy had picked out, an old bottle of Merlot from about seven years ago. It was so old, she guessed her grandfather had probably made it when he was still alive. She poured herself a nice full glass and headed into the living room where everyone was. Maria was sitting in her favorite chair, her legs propped up on a stool. Katie touched her shoulder as she passed by, and Maria squeezed her hand lightly.

"Can't wait for this fall when we can have a fire in the fireplace," Maria said.

"I can't wait for this fall so your baby will be here," Katie told her. Merle thought about asking her again about who the baby's father was. He had a sneaking suspicion that she had gotten pregnant when the girls had been in Woodbury. That meant that the baby belonged to Martinez. He thought about how he would feel if it was Katie pregnant with his baby, and him back in Woodbury with no idea. Not that it was any of Merle's business, but a man had a right to know about something like that.

Merle was sitting in an overstuffed chair on the other side of the fireplace and Katie settled down on the floor near his feet, sipping her wine and touching his leg softly with the other hand. Maria was making small talk, mostly asking the men what they thought about the place and their jobs. She was so relieved that Hershel was here. She had been running the medical team, since she was the one with the most medical training. And her baby was coming soon. Now she would have all the time she needed to recover from the birth and she could take her time coming back to work. The girls would have made sure she had the time she needed anyway, but now she wouldn't feel guilty for leaving them without a doctor.

"Would it be alright with you if I had Hershel and his family over for dinner this weekend?," Maria asked Katie, "I wanted to thank him for being so willing to take over medical team for me." Katie smiled. Maria had been living with her for almost a year, but she still treated the place like it was Katie's house. Of course it was okay with her, Maria could have anyone she wanted over for dinner.

"That was pretty great of him," Katie commented, "to be willing to take on so much responsibility right off the bat like that. I think my Mee-maw might be sweet on him."

"Maybe she should sit on his lap and ask him for a present," Addy commented, making everyone laugh. Daryl had never really thought about it before, but the man did bear a strong resemblance to Santa. The responsibility thing had made Katie remember something she meant to talk to Merle about while they were on the tour.

"Since we are on the topic of responsibility," Katie said, looking up at him, "I think I should mention that I kind of mean for you to start leading the hunt team, not just being a part of it." Merle kept his face neutral and looked back down at her. Living in Woodbury had taught him well that nothing comes without a price. She probably wanted to use him for some terrible chore, like the governor. That was all people thought he was good for.

"What about that Rich guy that's in charge right now?," Merle asked her. He knew she was going to ask him to get rid of the guy for her. Take him for a little walk in the woods, mabye have a little accident. She could feel how tense his body was against hers and she wasn't sure she understood why. They were not going to force him into taking the position if he didn't want it. She just knew he was the most experienced hunter and thought he would have a hard time taking direction from someone who knew less than he did.

"Rich asked to step down," Katie explained, "his daughter is about to have a baby. She is having a hard time with it, he doesn't want to be gone so much. I begged him to stay on until we found someone to take his place." Merle let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. Katie felt his body relax. What in the world had he thought she was about to ask him? "He is going to talk to you guys about it tomorrow," Katie said, "I just didn't want you to be blindsided."

"There ain't no one here that wants his job?," Daryl interjected. Addy laughed. He would understand when he saw the hunt team tomorrow. It was nothing but a bunch of teenage boys that wanted to goof around. Some of them were actually good hunters, like Katie's twin brothers, but they needed direction. None of them were fit to lead a team. If Merle and Daryl hadn't shown up, Katie was going to have to assign one of the women to lead that team, and there was not a woman in camp that wanted that job. When she tried to talk Roberta into doing it, the woman had told her to think black and get serious.

"You will see tomorrow," Katie said with a smile. Daryl wasn't sure if he liked the sound of that, but he would deal with tomorrow, tomorrow. He was also tired, and trying to think of an excuse to get away from Addy and get upstairs to his bed alone. His brother was smirking at him. Daryl was sitting against the arm of the couch and Addy was sitting right next to him, practically in his lap. She was good looking enough, even if she did talk to much. He wasn't sure why Daryl was acting like such an ass. He had not seemed attached to any of the women from the prison, which meant he probably had not had a piece in a long time. You would think he would jump at the chance for some ass, even if the ass in question belonged to a stage five clinger. Hell, Merle was ready to get another peice of ass and he had just had some before dinner. He thought he would give his brother a little push in the right direction.

"Hey Addy," Merle said, "I am staying with Katie, so you know Daryl has a whole room to himself upstairs." Daryl scowled at him. He did not need help. And the last thing he wanted right now was to take this girl up to his room. Then he would never get rid of her. Merle was about to say something else, but Katie pinched him hard in the leg.

"I don't know about Daryl," she said, "but that bus nap did not do the trick. I am exhausted." Daryl realized she was trying to help him out. Giving him a way to get rid of Addy without hurting her feelings.

"I am tired as hell," he said.

"Maybe you could walk Addy home before you go to bed?," Katie suggested. Addy looked a little disappointed, she really wanted to stay the night. But the thought of being walked home was nice. Addy finished the last sip of her wine and stood up. Seeing that there was no way to get out of it, Daryl stood up as well. Before they left he went into the kitchen and downed another shot of whiskey.

Merle waited until they were gone and pinched Katie back. Little shit, pinching him like that and ruining the fun he was having with Daryl. Katie swatted at him.

"You are a real shit," she told him. Maria laughed.

"I don't think your brother is that into Addy," she remarked, "good lord she was up on his dick like white on rice." That made all of them laugh. Addy was young and she had only ever had one real boyfriend. She just had some learning to do, about how to attract a man instead of a boy. "You should give her your vibrator," Maria suggested.

"I don't have a vibrator," Katie said, trying to keep a straight face. Maria couldn't take that shit. She started laughing hard. If Katie didn't have a vibrator, she was the queen of the world. In fact, just the other day, Katie had taken the batteries out of it and put them into one of Bash's little remote controlled cars.

"You know mommy loves you when she takes the batteries out of her toy and puts them in your toy," Maria said, imitating her. Now they were both giggling like silly little girls. Merle was shaking his head at them and thinking again about how easily these girls had outsmarted both him and the governor. And he wasn't really surprised about the vibrator. There were no men around this place, so there girls were either making it with each other, or doing a lot of masturbating. He guessed probably a little of both.

"You are just jealous because your stomach is so big, you can't reach your damn vagina," Katie told her friend. This set them off laughing again. Maria held her stomach. She had to pee something terrible and the laughing wasn't helping. Katie stood up and gave her a hug, then Maria gave them a little wave and told them goodnight. When she backed up, Merle caught Katie around the waist and pulled her down into his lap. She finished the last of her wine and set the glass on the small table next to the chair.

She wrapped her arms around him, her expression still playful. Then she dipped her head down to kiss him. She meant to tease him a little first, but found herself kissing him deeply with her eyes shut instead. Then he was on his feet, lifting her in his arms and heading for the stairs. He set her down gently when he got to them, and she took his hand in hers, leading him up the steps behind her. By the time she got her bedroom door shut, they were both pulling their clothes off. She had looked pretty in the dress she had on for dinner, and still sexy in the sweats she had put on when they got back, but nothing compared to actually seeing her.

Since she had already gotten him off in the shower earlier, Merle was in no hurry to find his release. He got on top of her on the bed, moving slowly in and out of her with only half his length. He held her arms above her head with his hand to keep her from grabbing him by the ass and pulling him all the way inside her. She was arching her hips and trying to wrap her legs around him. But he didn't give her what she wanted until he felt her legs start to shake. Then he pushed inside her, fast and hard, making her cry out as she felt the spasms rock through her. She had not told him he couldn't, so he came inside her, moaning into her neck. He let go of her arms then, and felt her wrap them around him, holding him close to her. When her breathing returned to normal, Katie untangled herself from him and got up to put her pajamas back on.

"Would you mind sleeping in some underwear at least?," she asked him, "My son gets out of his bed and comes into mine sometimes and I would rather if we weren't both naked." Merle nodded. He would also rather not be naked in a bed with a small child. Katie handed him his boxers. "I have sweats in the closet if you want them?"

"Yeah. Will you get them for me?" She leaned down and kissed him, which he assumed meant yes. When she came back, she handed him the pants and then climbed over him and crawled under the covers, laying on her side with her back to him. He pulled the pants on and looked over at her. He had thought she was going to want to cuddle. Thats what she had done the night before. But then again, she hadn't had much of a choice, since they had been sleeping in a bed about 1/4 the size of this one. He layed down, not sure if he should try and hold her or if she wanted to be left alone. He settled in reaching over to rub her back. She made a little mmmhmm noise.

"Feels good," she murmured, "I always sleep so hard after I come in from being on the road."

"Can I ask you something?," Merle asked her. She made the mmhhm noise again. "Are you on the pill or something?"

"Why?," she asked, still sounding sleepy "afraid you might knock me up?"

"Yeah."

"I have endometriosis," she said, fumbling at the word a little, "it took me seven years to get pregnant with Bash, so stop worrying and go to sleep." Merle wasn't sure what whatever that was that she said was, but if she wasn't worried, he guessed he wasn't worried either. Maybe it was just that Maria girl being pregnant that was bothering him. It was a stupid thought, but with all these women here, he was worried they might have brought his group in as some kind of breeding stock. Maybe they killed their men once they conceived or some crazy shit like that. All Merle knew was he saw a lot of pregnant women and kids around and not very many men.

"Now I want to ask you a question," Kaite said.

"Go on then."

"Earlier when I said we wanted you to lead hunt team, you got all tense about it. Why?" Merle thought about her question. He wasn't sure if he should tell her the truth, but as smart as she was, she had probably already guessed at the reason.

"I thought you were going to ask me to kill Rich." That got Katie's full attention. She turned over and looked at Merle.

"Why in the world would I want to kill Rich?" Then she saw the look on Merle's face in the dim light of the room. "Is that the kind of things the governor was having you do for him?" She had seen the kind of shit that went on at Woodbury when she had been there. He didn't try to make any excuses.

"Yes." Katie pulled him close to her, rolling back into her comfy spot, but pulling him with her, so they were laying like two spoons on edge.

"I am not the governor," she said. "The only way I would ever expect you to kill someone is if we are under attack. Even then I would rather negotiate." She held his hand to her lips and kissed his palm, closing his hand around her kiss like she was giving it to him to save for later. He didn't say anything, but she could feel the tension leave his body. A few minutes later they were both asleep.


	13. Chapter 13

On the walk back to the little A frame cottage she lived in with Cassadra, Addy was quiet. She had only been running her mouth like that earlier because she was nervous. And the wine had relaxed her. The long day they had was finally catching up with her, and she was finding she was glad to be heading home to sleep. Daryl would be here tomorrow, so there was no need for her to rush into things with him.

"Sorry I was talking your ear off earlier," she said, giving him a smile and then looking down at her feet. She felt a blush rising up in her cheeks, "You make me nervous." Daryl felt the corner of his mouth turn up in a little smile before he could stop himself. That was the first real thing she had said to him all day. He took a better look at her. Her hair was kind of crazy, but she had a pretty face and she was well built. There were worse things than a pretty girl having a crush on you. He liked her moves earlier when the girls had been taking out those walkers at Hershel's house. She wasn't looking for someone to protect and take care of her, these girls took care of each other. In fact, he was having a hard time figuring out why the women had wanted to bring him and the rest of the prison group home with them in the first place. They didn't need the muscle, that was for sure. Just look at this place.

"S'alright," he told her. She blabbered a little to much, but Addy was still good people. When they got to her house, she leaned in and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek before heading up her steps. She stopped in the open doorway and tuned back to smile at him. The way he was standing at the bottom of the steps watching her made Addy wish she had tried to give him more than a peck on the cheek.

"Goodnight," she said, giving a little wave.

"Night," he told her. Then she went inside and shut the door. When he turned to head back to Katie's house, he almost ran right into Beth. "Whatcha doing out here by urself?," he asked her. She wrinkled up her nose at him.

"Its perfectly safe," she said, "I was just going for a walk."

"Maybe ya ought to get home and go to bed," Daryl suggested to her. Back at the prison everyone treated Beth like she was a little kid. He didn't like her being out by herself.

"I already have a daddy, Daryl," she informed him. Who was he to tell her to go home and go to bed. Roberta had told her she could go anywhere inside the main wall, and she was just doing a little exploring. She rolled her eyes at him and walked away. She was planning on going out to get a better look at the horses. She had only seen the barn when Robeta had taken them on the short tour of the property. Beth got the feeling that Roberta didn't care much for animals. She sure had not liked that cat Katie had brought on the bus in the cage. Beth had been wondering what they planned to do with the cat, and Lexi had told her they would let it go out near the barns. There were lots of cats out there.

Daryl watched Beth walking away from him and soon found himself hurrying to catch up with her. "Where you going?," he asked her. Beth sighed. She had been enjoying her walk alone. They never had any time to themselves at the prison, and it had been dangerous to go anywhere alone.

"Out to the barn to see the horses," she said.

"Like horses?," he asked her, thinking afterwords that it was about the stupidest question ever. Why would she be walking out to see the horses if she didn't like them?

"I used to train the ones we had on the farm and enter them in horse shows," Beth said. Daryl gave a little snort. She thought maybe that was his way of showing his approval, but it was hard to tell with him. "Mandy told me they have some greenbroke horses down here they could use my help with," Beth added. She was proud she had been asked to help train the horses. And Roberta wanted her to help them watch the gate and keep the place safe. Back at the prison they treated her like she was only good for cooking and watching Judith.

Daryl watched Beth out of the corner of his eye as they walked. He had never taken much notice of her before. Just a small quiet girl that took care of Hershel. She reminded him of a little mouse. But now she seemed different. She was walking with a confidence that he had not seen before. And he hadn't noticed before how pretty she was. Maybe it was because they were all so dirty back at the prison. Now she had on clean clothes, jeans and a white tshirt with her cowboy boots. Her hair was shiny and clean and she had the front pulled back in a little braid to keep it out of her face.

They walked down to the barn without any further conversation. When they went inside, Daryl saw one of the women from the meeting was there. She was the one that took care of the cows. Glen and Maggie were going to be working for her. Beth greeted her in a way that made Daryl think they had already met. The woman was tall and looked a little older than Beth. She had long dark hair and a large mandala tattoo on one shoulder. She stuck her hand out to him.

"Hex," she said. He shook it.

"Daryl," he told her.

"I know," she said with a smile, "Katie's boyfriend's brother, right?" He nodded. The boyfriend part was questionable, but Daryl had a feeling that being associated with Katie was not a bad thing around here. Beth was peeking into the stalls, petting some of the horses that seemed friendly. Hex gestured to her, "If I knew she was a damn horse trainer, I would have snatched her up for my team before Roberta had a chance."

"Thought you took care of the cows?," Daryl asked.

"Cows and horses," she told him. Then she asked, "you like to ride?" He nodded. Even though his last horse experience had not been fun, he did still enjoy the animals. "They always need exercise, why don't you two stop by tomorrow after dinner I will help you get a few of them saddled up. We have a nice trail out in the woods that goes up around the lake."

"That would be great," Beth said, not waiting for Daryl to answer. He didn't correct her, so she figured he wanted to go. Even if he didn't, she could get her sister or one of the other girls to go with her. Hex was finished up with the few last minute things she had needed to get done so she gave Daryl and Beth a little nod and headed home. She knew the two of them had been part of the same group, but she wondered if more than that was going on between them. Addy was not going to be happy if there was.

Beth saw a large basket of bruised peaches that she assumed were treats for the horses. She picked one up and held it out for the pretty palomino horse she had her eye on. Its coat was a dark reddish color and its mane and tail were so light blonde they were almost white. The horse sniffed at the peach and took it from her hand, staying close enough for her to pet its head.

"Hey Honey," Daryl said, approaching Beth and the horse. Beth wrinkled her nose up at him again. Who did he think he was calling Honey? He smiled and pointed to a sign on the top of the stall. Beth giggled, feeling embarrassed. The horse's name was Honey. "If I was going to give ya a pet name," Daryl told her, "I wouldn't start with honey."

"What would you start with then?," Beth asked. She had never really been this close to Daryl before, except maybe when they were all packed in to one of the cars during the winter. Being close to him wasn't really so bad, especially since he smelled like soap instead of his usual man stink. She had heard a lot of the other girls talking about him. They all thought he was cute. At first Beth had thought they had all just gone too long without seeing a man. But now that he was here in front of her, it was hard to deny that he did have a certain appeal.

"Dunno," he said, "how 'bout princess. You look like a princess."

"I am not a princess," Beth insisted.

"Thats right," Daryl teased her, "you are training to be a bus slut."

"Who had been calling them that?," Beth asked. As if she didn't know. There was a difference between being a slut and being a strong independent woman. "Your brother is a pig," Beth informed Daryl without waiting for him to answer her question. Daryl laughed.

"More like a pet poodle now," Daryl said. Katie didn't have his brother wrapped all the way around her finger yet, but she had her claws in him. Daryl was torn between feeling irritated about it, and feeling relieved that someone else was taking on the job of keeping his brother under control. That Katie girl was not to be fooled with. If Merle pulled any shit with her he was likely to find her foot jammed straight up his ass.

"Jealous?," Beth asked. She wasn't blind. Katie was a very attractive woman. And she had seen Daryl looking at her. He shrugged. He was a little jealous, but he wasn't going to admit that to Beth. And he wasn't sure if he was jealous that Katie liked his brother, or that Merle was giving all his attention to a woman and ignoring him even though they had been apart for so long. Beth smiled at him, then turned back to the horse. She had a pretty smile, he had not noticed that before either. Maybe because no one smiled much at the prison. He yawned and rubbed at his face a little. Seeing him yawn made Beth yawn, but she covered her mouth. Then they both laughed.

"Tired?," he asked. Beth nodded, wiping at her eyes that had watered up slightly when she yawned. "Come on," Daryl told her, "I will walk you back to wherever you are staying."

Rick felt like he could have slept for about another three days straight. But Carl was up and ready to go get some breakfast. He had been so hungry for so long, just thinking about food made Carl's stomach start to grumble. Rick came out of his room to find Selena drinking a large glass of water in nothing but a oversize tshirt with her long glossy black hair hanging down over one shoulder. She took one look at him and dashed into her room to dress properly, mumbling an apology. Through the closed bedroom door he heard some feminine laughter. Zara came out with Judith and a smile on her face.

"Selena forget Rick here," she said. Rick smiled and held his arms out for Judith, who was dressed in a bright pink and gold outfit. It looked like a long tank top and little matching baby pants. Zara handed her over reluctantly. And Rick could see Judith kept her head turned towards the woman. It was clear in the little time they had been together, a bond had already been formed between the two.

"I don't want to make the two of you uncomfortable in your own home," Rick told her, "you don't have to dress up special because I am here." He had to admit, he didn't understand much about their culture. Zara had nursed Judith without a cover many times in front of him, so why would she care if he saw her hair? Zara nodded, but he wasn't sure if she understood him. Judith was reaching for her now, so Rick handed her back to the woman, who held her close and smoothed her hair down with her hand. Selena came out of the bedroom, pants on and a scarf covering her hair. Rick smiled at her, and she looked down, blushing.

"Can we go eat now?," Carl asked. Rick nodded, but before he could answer, there was a knock on the door. Selena opened it. It was Roberta and Cassandra.

"Just wanted to see if you wanted to walk down to breakfast with us," Roberta said. Carl almost ran out the door, making them laugh.

"You don't have to wait for us," Cassandra told him, "go on and run down there." Carl looked to his father for approval. Rick nodded and he took off at a sprint, almost running headfirst into a group of women headed for the showers. Rick followed Zara and Selena out, looking around and observing the surroundings like he had been doing since he got here. There were a lot of people heading towards the breakfast tent, but some were already coming back from that direction. They were sipping out of travel mugs or eating food. A few more looked like they were going to the showers, and there were a few tired looking women that looked like maybe they were coming in from night guard duty. Rich was on the front porch next door. It sounded like he was trying to talk his pregnant daughter into walking down to the tent with him and she was wanting to stay and have him bring food back to her.

"I have new people on my team," he was telling her, "I have got to take them out after breakfast. I don't have all day to cater to you Taylor." The girl started tearing up.

"Hey Rich," Cassandra called to him, "I can bring her some food back when I get done eating." With that the girl took of back into the house, slamming the door in her father's face. Rick saw Rich run his hands through his hair in frustration before he came down the steps.

"She still refusing to leave the house?," Roberta asked. He nodded. He saw Rick was looking at them so he thought he ought to explain.

"Before Katie and Roberta picked us up," he said, "we were attacked by another group. That's how my daughter got in her _condition._ " Cassandra patted him on the back, giving him a sympathetic glance. Then Rick realized what he was saying. That must have been terrible for the man, to watch something like that happen to his daughter and be powerless to stop it. "They attacked her sister too, but she fought the second one off and ran. We haven't seen her since. Taylor had been afraid to leave the house since we got here. She won't talk about her pregnancy." Rich run his hands through his hair. He looked tired.

"We could try looking for her again," Cassandra suggested. Rich wrapped his arm around her as they walked.

"Thank you so much," he said, "but you girls already spent weeks searching for her, I don't want you putting your lives at risk any further for nothing." He paused a minute. "When I heard you found two injured girls out on the road I thought maybe..." He didn't have to finish. They all knew he was hoping one of them was his daughter. Hearing that gave Roberta an idea. She and Cassandra had been talking about what to do with those girls.

"You know those two girls are still staying at the infirmary," Roberta mentioned, "and you do have an extra room." At first Rich looked like he wasn't sure about that idea, but then he smiled.

"Maybe it would do Taylor good to be around girls her age that have been through the same thing she has," he said. Roberta smiled at Rick and threaded her arm through his, the handle on the long knife she kept in her belt bumping into his arm. Since he got here, Rick had been looking and looking, trying to figure out what the catch was with this place. No place could be this nice without a catch. But when he heard the small exchange about the girls they had picked up on the road, he finally started to relax. There was no way Roberta was being anything but genuine about her concern for those girls. She had nothing to gain from helping them. Maybe instead of thinking if this place seemed too good to be true, it probably was, he should start counting his blessings instead.

Maggie woke up to the sound of Glen snoring softly next to her. They had figured out the night before that this was their first time sleeping in a real bed together, and they had done a little more than sleep. After dinner, their new neighbors had taken them on a tour of the property and then Mandy had stopped by with a welcome basket for them. Inside was a bottle of wine and twelve months worth of birth control pills out of the stash they lifted from the pharmacy. That was about all the motivation they needed. Maggie swallowed down one of the tiny blue pills and let Glen carry her into the bedroom of their new home.

Maggie liked her new neighbors. They had both been at the after dinner meeting. Cathy was in charge of all the chickens and other poultry, plus the rabbits. If Maggie had to guess, she would say the woman was in her late thirties. She had a thick creole accent and a warm smile. Her huband was quite a bit younger than her, and his name was Connor. He was in charge of the goats and sheep. He was much quieter than his spouse, and seemed content to let her do most of the talking duing the tour. Maggie found them to be an odd couple at first, but then she heard he had an acccent as well. She guessed they must have known each other before the turn. And from the way they looked at each other, age difference or not, there was no denying they were in love.

Cathy told them once Katie came back from her monthly trade run with the shrimp she would cook them up some real creole food. Then she had explained the girls went on a trade run once a month or so and got fresh seafood from another group that lived on boats in the ocean. The men from the fishing group had stayed the last winter here. Cathy also informed them that the leader of that group was 'sweet' on Katie, which made Glen smile. Anything that had the potential to cause problems for Merle was good news as far as Glen was concerned.

Maggie felt her stomach grumble. They were so used to doing without, it was going to be hard not to over eat now that they were in a place with plenty of food. She shook Glen lightly and tried to wake him by kissing his cheek and neck. He mumbled something and then wrapped his arm around her, nuzzling into her hair.

"Oh no you don't," she said, "I am starving, lets go eat." The mention of food had Glen up and at full attention immediately. He was almost as bad as Carl and she couldn't believe he had not given himself a belly ache with as much as he had eaten at dinner the night before. He had his pants and shirt on before Maggie was even out of bed. She laughed and swatted at his behind. He yanked the blankets off and picked her up, carrying her towards the door. She was kicking her feet and laughing, happy that they were finally getting along again.

"Put me down and let me get some clothes on," she told him. He set her down gently and enjoyed the view of her as she walked back into the bedroom in all her naked glory. They had not meant to fall asleep naked the night before, Glen wanted to keep his guard up since they were in a new place. But after a long day, a big meal and a romp in their new bed, they had both fallen asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows. And obviously, these girls had not been planning on getting the jump on them while they slept. In fact, he felt a little silly now for being worried about it in the first place.


	14. Chapter 14

**** If you have read this far I would love a review. As always I own nothing from the Walking Dead or ZNation. ****

After they dropped Rich and his son off at their cabin, Merle and Daryl drove the golf cart they were using back to Katie's house and parked it next to hers. The best thing Daryl could say about his day was at least he knew why the girls had been laughing when he asked why no one else wanted to run the hunt team. The team was nothing but a bunch of teenage boys that wanted to fuck around. Most of them had taken off to go swimming in the lake, and Rich had showed Daryl and Merle around the property. He had traps out that needed to be checked everyday. And then Mandy would let them know what the kitchen staff was low on, which was usually everything.

The property was the kind that Daryl had always wished he owned, but never had the money to buy. The wooded area outside the main walls was about thirty or fourty acres. And the place was crawling with game. It had been some kind of preserve before the turn, where people with money could pay to go on guided hunting tours. This meant it was stocked with all different kids of deer, wild boar, turkeys, ducks, other game birds, even peacocks. There was a large section of normal looking woods, and also several large orchards, which fed the people of the camp along with the animals that lived in the woods. There was a nice sized lake, deep enough for swimming and good for fishing since it had also been stocked up with different types of fish at some point. It was surrounded with little log cabins. Deeper in the woods there was a large hunting cabin that had belonged to Katie's grandfather. Rich told them the run team girls liked to go out there sometimes and party.

"If you get really behind on the hunting," Rich had explained to them, "Just tell Katie and she will bring the girls out here and take care of it." Merle had not said anything about that, but he would cut off his other hand before he asked a bunch of girls to come out and do his hunting for him. He could see whipping his new team into shape was not going to be an easy task. The first thing he wanted to do was see if any of them could actually shoot straight.

Merle walked into the kitchen, got out a glass and poured himself a double shot of whiskey. Daryl was eyeballing him.

"Going to tell me to lay off little brother?," he asked.

"No, I was going to tell you to pour me a glass or hand it over," Daryl said. Merle laughed and handed him the drink, then got another one for himself. No one was in the kitchen, but he heard women's voices drifting through the living room. He followed the noise into the greenhouse. Most of the bus girls and a few others were sitting around a table sipping tea and having some kind of meeting. Michonne was with them. Katie waved him over and got up to pull another chair in near her from the next table. The way the girls were looking at him, it was like they had been waiting for him to show up. It made him feel self conscious, especially since he had a large glass of straight whiskey in his hand and nothing to show for after a whole day of hunting. Katie reached for his glass and took a small sip before handing it back.

"Michonne wants to go back for her friend," she told him. Merle looked at Michonne. It was hard to tell if she was giving him a dirty look or if she was just that ugly.

"Got a real thing for blondes?," he asked the woman. Michonne crossed her arms and looked at him with the same hateful expression.

"That's enough," Roberta told him. Merle shrugged and sat back, sipping his whiskey. "You know the governor best," Roberta said, "do you think he would hurt Andrea?" Merle thought about it. It was hard to say what the governor would do. He was batshit fucking crazy.

"If he thought she had something to do with all of us disappearing he might sweat her for information," Merle said. He saw a few of the girls exchange worried glances. "What the fuck do y'all care about Andrea?," he asked, "You don't even know her. She made her choice. Let her live with it."

"Does that mean you're not going to help us if we decide to go get her?," Katie asked him. He tried to hold back a smile. Getting to know the real Katie amused him. She was what he liked to call a straight shooter. Merle thought about her question. He didn't really care about Andrea, even if she had been nice to him about finding Daryl. But he would like an opportunity for a little revenge on the governor. And he knew they needed him if they were going to have a chance at sneaking into Woodbury without getting caught. And the thought of Katie getting caught by the governor made him feel sick inside, though he wasn't sure if he wanted to admit that.

"I never said I wasn't going to help," he said. Roberta was not impressed with the smug look on his face. She pointed her finger at him.

"No bullshit," she told him, "we are going to get Andrea and then getting the hell out of there." Merle nodded in agreement.

"Count me in," Daryl called to them from the doorway of the greenhouse.

"Maybe next time," Roberta told him. Merle was hard enough to deal with, she didn't need his brother coming too. Addie threw her a dirty look.

"If you want my help," Merle told her, "Daryl's coming." Roberta looked to Katie for help. But Katie shrugged like she had nothing.

"Its not worth the argument," Katie said, "just let him come." The way Roberta looked at her, she had a feeling she was going to get the business from her later, but it really just wasn't worth the fight. Daryl was fast and quiet and a good shot. They didn't know him well yet, but he seemed to have his head on straight. There was really only one way to find out.

Andrea was scared. Rick had never shown up for the meeting he had agreed to have with the governor. So they went looking for him at the prison. And everyone there was gone. Then Phillip had gone crazy, kicking over tables and flipping mattresses off the bunks onto the floor. He had gone into a rage and started screaming at Andrea to tell him where they went. There were bruises on her arm where he grabbed her hard by the arm and pushed her up against a wall. And there was a lump on the back of her head since it had banged into the wall. Hard.

"You fucking know where they went," he had hissed into her face. She shook her head. She had no idea where they went. She still had no idea. And now she wished she had left with them. "What do you know that you aren't telling me," he had demanded.

"When I was driving back," she said, "a bus passed me going in the direction of the prison." She hadn't thought much of it at the time, but now she knew whoever was driving it must have picked up her old group and left with them.

"A bus?," he asked, "was it a school bus?" She nodded. How did he know that. Then she had seen his hand come up and everything went black. When she woke up she was back in his apartment and all the doors and windows were locked from the outside. She had tried beating on the door and yelling but no one answered. That night Phillip had come back. He had ignored her questions and forced himself on her. Then he had done the same the next night.

Andrea was trying again to force one of the windows open, but none of them would budge. Her hands were bruised from trying and on the last one she was pretty sure she had strained her shoulder. She had not had much to eat the last two days, and she was feeling weak and dizzy. There was nothing in the apartment she could use for a weapon, she had already searched every nook and cranny. Finally she sat down in a chair at the table and buried her head in her hands, trying not to cry. She forced herself to get back up and noticed the chair had a little wobble to it. Tipping the chair onto its side, she grabbed at the legs to figure out which one was loose. When she yanked on the third one, it came off in her hand. She looked at the thin piece of wood. It wasn't the stray gun she was hoping to find in the apartment, but a beating stick was better than nothing. The last two nights, after the governor was done with her, he had tied her to the bed before he went to sleep. So she couldn't wait for him to fall asleep and then hit him, she was going to have to take him by surprise.

She heard a rattle come from the main door to the apartment. It startled her and she jumped up, not sure if she should hide the chair leg or attack him now. He was sure to see the leg was missing if her came into the apartment. And there was no time for her to put the chair back together. Andrea bolted for the door, flattening herself against the wall next to it and getting a firm grip on the thin piece of wood that was her only defense. When the door opened she swung it hard. She heard a metal ping and then the wood came flying back at her almost hitting her in the face.

"Fuckin' christ," Merle swore, holding his arm piece up again in case she decided to take another swing at him. It took Andrea a moment for her brain to register what her eyes were seeing. Merle was inside the door now, with Michonne behind him. He waved his arm outside the doorway and a group of women came from the other end of the hall with Daryl following behind them. Andrea felt the tears welling up in her eyes.

"You came back for me?," she asked Michonne. Then she flung herself into the other woman's arms and started sobbing into her shoulder. Merle poked at them with his arm piece.

"Cry later, we still gotta get out of here in one piece," he said. A black woman stepped forward and spoke to her.

"If you have anything here you need, get it now," Roberta told her, "we got to go." Andrea nodded. She took a small bag from off the backs of one of the chairs and headed into the bedroom so she could stuff her clothes into it. Michonne went with her.

"We might have to run," Michonne told her, "are you alright?" Andrea nodded. Her head and shoulder had taken the worst of it. Her legs were fine. Roberta came into the room and looked at the restraints that were hanging from the bed, then looked at Michonne. Andrea's lip started to quiver.

"Just hold it together a little while longer," Roberta told her. Andrea nodded and sucked up her tears, swallowing hard. She heard some hushed swearing coming from the other room. They could hear someone turning a key in the lock from outside the apartment. Everyone put their guns up and aimed them at the door.

Milton was worried about Andrea. He had heard some distrubing things from some other members of the group. And Phillip had been acting very strange. He kept saying Andrea was in bed sick, but he had not asked any of the medical staff to take a look at her. Milton guessed he might be holding the woman against her will since the prison group took off. Milton turned the key in the lock and then knocked softly on the door before he opened it. Then he felt himself grabbed hard by the shirt and hurled to the ground. There were people all around him with guns and bows pointed at him. He only recognized Merle at first.

"Please don't kill me," Milton begged, holding his hands up to show he was surrendering. Merle kicked at him a little with the tip of his boot,

"Who the hell is this clown?," Daryl asked.

"I'm Milton Mamet," Milton said. A blonde woman stepped forward and reached down to give him a hand up. She gestured for him to sit down in a chair at the table. He sat.

"We don't want to hurt anyone," she said, "we just came for Andrea. She doesn't want to stay here anymore." At the mention of her name, Andrea came out of the bedroom with her packed bag. A tall woman with light red hair handed her a gun.

"He's seen us," Mandy said, "just shoot him." Merle raised his gun, but Andrea stepped between them.

"Good god," Milton exclaimed, "did Phillip do that to your face?" Andrea nodded. "And he was keeping you locked in this room?"

"Yes," she said. She knew if Milton saw her escaping and did nothing to stop her, he would likely suffer a worse fate. "Come with us," she said. A few of the girls Andrea didn't know started agruing.

"We don't have time for this," Merle told them. He moved to the door and opened it a crack, checking the hallway. Milton looked aroud at the group in front of him. Besides the man with the crossbow, it was all attractive women.

"You are the girls that came here on that bus," he said.

"Are you coming with us or not?," Mandy asked him. Otherwise she was thinking about either tying him up or shooting him. Then couldn't just leave him here to sound the alarm on them. Milton was trying to think quickly, which was not his strong suit. The governor was on a bad path, he was going mad, getting more and more paranoid and violent. But for all Milton knew, these girls were even worse. They had tied him and Merle up the last time they were here, and then stolen all their guns and ammo. He also guessed if he said no, these girls might kill him this time. Katie could see the man was scared. He looked like he was about to pass out and pee himself at the same time, and his hands were shaking.

"None of us are going to hurt you," she said. Then she extended her hand to him again, "come with us, we could use someone as smart as you." Milton looked up at her face. He remember her from the last time she was there. She was so pretty, she made him feel weak in the knees. Before he knew what he was doing he put his hand in hers.

"Yes," he said. Roberta rolled her eyes and snorted.

"Can we go now?," she asked. Katie turned towards the door. Merle was gone. She bolted for the door and checked the hallway. He wasn't out there either. Roberta really started cussing.

"Where the fuck did that asshole go?," she swore, "God damn him!"

"We can't wait," Mandy said, "we need to leave now." Daryl was angry now. What the hell was his brother doing taking off like that.

"We are not leaving without my brother," he hissed at Mandy.

"Fuck your brother," Mandy said, "he's the one that took off."

"Shut up both of you," Roberta said, "We can't leave him here, he knows where our fucking camp is." Mandy swore and kicked a chair.

"He knows where the bus is too," Katie said, "lets wait for him there. If he doesn't show up soon, we can decide what to do then." Roberta got up in her face.

"Did you know he was going to take off like that?," she demanded. Mandy held her gun tightly, not pointing it at Roberta, but pointing it at the floor near her feet.

"Get the fuck out of my sister's face," Mandy said. Katie held her hand up to back Mandy off. The last thing they needed to do was start fighting each other.

"I didn't know Roberta," Katie said, "I swear." Roberta backed off, feeling bad that she had accused Katie of something like that in the first place.

"Hold on," she said, pointing to a door on the other wall, "where does that door lead."

"Out into a courtyard," Andrea said.

"On the other side of that courtyard is the main wall, we can hop it and get out that way," Milton offered.

"The door is deadbolted," Andrea said. She had already tried forcing it open. Mandy reached behind her back and pulled out a crowbar from the side of her backpack. She wedged it in between the door and the frame and then yanked hard on it, popping the door open. She made it look so easy, Andrea felt ashamed for not trying harder to escape. Then they all headed for the small courtyard. Michonne climbed the wall easily, straddling the top so she could help Andrea up. Katie and Mandy made stirrups by lacing their fingers together and Andrea stepped on them so she could climb up without putting weight on her hurt shoulder. They both jumped down onto the other side and got their weapons out. Roberta boosted Katie up next. She waited at the top to help Milton over. He climbed awkwardly and fell down when he hit the ground on the other side. Mandy and Daryl gave Roberta a lift. Since they were the tallest, they jumped for the top ledge and pulled themselves up, dropping soundlessly into the grass on the other side.

"Which way is the bus from here?," Katie asked. Mandy smiled, Katie had the worst sense of direction of anyone she knew. Mandy pointed north.

"That way," she said, "lets get into the woods and then circle around." The other girls nodded. When they got into the woods, Michonne helped Andrea, but Milton was stumbling all over the place, tripping over sticks and struggling to keep up, breathing hard through his mouth. Daryl cursed at him a few times. He was slowing them down. Katie went back and took his hand.

"Follow me and step where I step," she said. Milton let her drag him along behind her, and found now that he was watching where he was stepping, they were going much faster. When they got close to the bus, Roberta gave a short whistle and waited for the return signal, which was two claps. Once they heard it, they knew it was safe.

Roberta came around the side of the bus to find Merle and a random hispanic man standing near the door, smoking cigars.

"Are you fucking kidding me?," she asked them. Addie came down the bus steps with Cassandra and Lexi close behind her.

"We already told him no," Cassandra said. Merle pointed at Andrea.

"She got to bring Milton," he announced. And that guy was worth about his weight in shit. At least Martinez was a good shot. Mandy pointed at the man.

"Thats the father of Maria's baby," she said, "Isn't it?"

"Maria is not going to like this," Katie said, giving Merle a dirty look. He gave her a big grin. Martinez looked at Merle. He had not been sure if the man had been making all this baby stuff up, but now it was clear that he had been telling the truth. Maybe that stuff about their camp making Woodbury look like a dump was true too.

"Alright," Roberta told the hispanic man, "go back now and we won't shoot you."

"Too late," Merle said, "already told him where your camp was." Katie gave up and just got on the bus, with Michonne and Andrea following after her. Then she poked her head out the window.

"Are you guys coming or should we wait here for the governor to show up?," she asked. Martinez stuck his hand out to Roberta.

"Caesar," he told her. She smacked at his hand and stomped off to climb the steps of the bus, cursing under her breath. Merle smacked him on the back and told him not to worry. Then they followed everyone else up onto the bus.


	15. Chapter 15

Once they were about an hour away from Woodbury with no signs of being followed, everyone on the bus started to relax. Some of the girls were leaning back in their seats with their eyes closed. Martinez thought the girls might take his weapons away, like the governor did to people in Woodbury, but so far none of them had said anything about it. Merle noticed Katie scowling at him from time to time, but so far she had not confronted him about his uninvited guest. Or the fact that he took off without telling her. He was thinking about bringing the subject up himself when a loud whistle from the front of the bus brought him out of his own thoughts. Cassandra had driven on the way there, and Mandy was driving now. She was the one that made the loud whistle to get everyone's attention.

"Moving vehicle, up ahead," she called out. Everyone sat up and started looking out the windows. The vehicle in question looked like some kind of heavily armoured mini van. Mandy slowed down a little, so that she wouldn't come up on the van too fast. The girls were gripping their guns, getting ready in case the people in the van were looking for trouble. But then Katie started yelling.

"Its Sketchy and Skeezy," she yelled, "I know that van anywhere." She pushed her window open stuck her head out. Then she wiggled her shoulders through, leaning so far out the window that Merle had to fight the sudden urge to grasp her by the back of her pants and pull her back in. Mandy hit the gas and pulled up next to the van. She honked to horn and waved at the men inside it. Then she slowed down and pulled over. Merle saw the van slowed down and pulled up next to them. The girls kept their guns on them, but they did not point them at these men like they had with those men that had been holding the two girls captive.

One of the men was of average build with dark curly hair and a full beard. He had a handgun in a hostler on his waist, but made no move to get it out or use it. The second man was taller, but very skinny. Too skinny. He had a tattoo of a cross on his right arm and he was wearing a ragged tshirt with the sleeves cut off and he looked like he had a serious drug problem. A third man got out of the van that the girls didn't recognize. He was older, with a white and grey beard. Roberta approached the man with the dark hair. He stuck out his hand.

"Hey Warren," he said, then he nodded to the older looking man, "this is Doc."

"Hey McClain," she said, shaking his hand. She smiled at the other two men. Katie stepped up next to her. She cracked a big smile. These were a few of the people she was actually happy to run into on the road.

"Well Sketchy McClain," she said, moving in to hug the dark haired man, "How's business?" He pulled her close and kissed her on the cheek.

"Better now," he said with a grin. She moved to give the tall thin man a quick hug and then stuck her hand out the man she didn't know.

"Katie," she said. The man put her hand up to his mouth and kissed the back of it. She giggled.

"Steven," he said, "but they call me Doc." He was looking the woman up and down. And behind her there were more girls. More than he had seen in one place since before the turn. And all of them were good looking. Katie took her hand back and motioned for her niece. She turned back to the two men she knew.

"This is my neice Lexi," she said, "and that's Michonne there, and Andrea. And Merle and Daryl. Everyone this is Sketchey and Skeezy. They run a kind of mobile trading business." Addie leaned in close to Daryl.

"That's where I got my Z-wacker," she said, holding up the spiked bat she used. He grunted. How did these girls seem to know everyone they saw on the road.

"You girls want to do some trading?," Sketchy asked them. Roberta nodded. She wanted bullets for her gun, and they always had bullets. And they were usually willing to trade them for drugs. "You want to do it right here?," he asked her. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Got something else in mind?"

"Yeah," he said. Then the tall thin man butted in.

"Got a warehouse we been staying at," he said, "staying up on the roof. You girls want to check it out... We could party some too." Roberta looked at Katie, who shrugged. They were not going to make it home before dark anyway. So having a place other that the bus to sleep the night didn't sound too bad to her.

"Lead the way," Roberta told them.

Katie and Roberta stayed up near the front of the bus. They pulled up outside an abandoned factory. A few of the windows were broken out, but otherwise, the place didn't look too bad. Mandy saw a ladder on one side of the building and pulled the bus up close enough that they could pop the emergency exit on the roof of the bus open and climb up that way. Sketchy got out and opened a bay door on the side of the building and they pulled their van inside before and shut the door behind them. Mandy turned the engine off and headed for the back of the bus. The girls started digging through bags and boxes, looking for things they could use for trading. Daryl watched them, wishing he had something of value that he could trade. These girls had weed, bags of pills, booze and food. They clearly stored certain items on the bus that were intended to be used for trading. He had not seen any of them taking pills, except the ones they gave to Andrea for the pain in her shoulder. But they had several bags full of them.

Merle leaned down and picked up a ziplock bag full of round white pills. He opened up the bag and popped one into his mouth. Roberta snatched the bag back from him.

"Those are for trading," she told him, "not for your dumbass to eat." He shrugged and used the end of the knife on his prostetic arm to poke around in the bag some more.

"Get out of here with that thing," Katie told him, pushing his arm away, "before you poke holes in all the bags and the pills get mixed up." Daryl tried not to laugh, but seeing his brother get scolded like a small child was a funny thing to watch. He kept expecting Merle to go crazy and start yelling at these women, but nothing Katie did seemed to bother him. Merle crouched down close to her, paying close attention to what she was doing.

"What you fixing to do with all those pills?," he asked her. She rolled her eyes at him. He smiled, guessing she must still be mad about him taking off on her in Woodbury.

"Trade them," she said.

"All of them?," he asked.

"Hope not," she answered, her voice had a little sass to it that time, like his question had been an insult. Obviously she was only going to give those men enough pills to get what she wanted.

"What for?," he asked her.

"Bullets mostly," she said, "maybe a new gun if someone wants one." Merle nodded. They got a lot of guns from that town they stopped at on the way from the prison, but most of that had been police issue bullshit. He was thinking he wouldn't mind a better hunting rifle. One that actually belonged to him. But these bitches were already pissed at him, he didn't want to push his luck.

There was a loud thump from on top of the bus and then someone could be heard knocking on the emergency escape door. Roberta and Mandy got up and stood on the seat to open it. They had to get back quickly, since Skeezy had not been smart enough to move off the door after he knocked on it. He came falling in the opening, legs swinging and kicking before he flopped on the floor like dead fish. The girls helped him up, trying not to laugh while they made sure he was alright.

"Doc's got the fire going," he said, "y'all got some shit you want heated up for dinner?" Roberta looked to Katie for the answer on that. Katie scratched her head.

"We got about a zillion cans of chicken noodle soup," she said, pointing over to some milk crates. She looked around to see if anyone had an objection. No one spoke up so she grabbed the top crate and hauled it over near the opening in the ceiling. "Climb out and I will hand this up to you," she told Skeezy. Really Mandy ended up standing on a bus bench seat and handing it up to him. Then Katie handed her one of their big soup pots and a gallon jug of water, which also disappeared out the hole in the roof of the bus. Then Mandy climbed out with Cassandra close behind her.

Katie took a deep drag off the joint before handing it off to Addy. Then she leaned back in the reclining lawn chair she was sharing with Merle, holding the smoke in for a few seconds before she blew it out. They had done some eating and some trading, and now they were doing some relaxing. Mandy and Cassandra were playing cards with Doc and Skeezy. Sketchy was trying to move in on any of the girls he thought he might have a chance of sleeping with. He had his eye on Addy first. She had the best legs and she was usually up for a little harmless fun. But she seemed firmly attached to the man with the crossbow, so now he was trying to move in on anyone who looked like an easy target. He sat down over near Michonne and Andrea, offering to refill their cups with more of whatever they were drinking.

Martinez was sitting on the other side of Katie and Merle, since Merle was really the only person he knew. He had to admit in the last few days since he had seen Merle, the man had done pretty well for himself. Last time Martinez saw him, Merle had been running for his life with only the clothes on his back. Now he had a new group, new guns, and a very attractive new girlfriend. Well, sort of new, if you didn't count when she and those other girls had come to Woodbury and robbed them. He watched Katie. She was tipping her glass back, letting the last few sips of her drink slide down her throat. Then she took another puff off the joint they were all passing around and handed it to him. She used the arm rests to push herself up into a standing position.

"Got to pee?," Addy asked her. Katie nodded and grabbed Addy's hand to yank her up. Then the two of them took off over behind a higher part of the building where they couldn't be seen by everyone. The warehouse didn't exactly have a women's room, so they were using a bucket and tossing the contents over the side of the building.

"You going to do him or what?," Katie asked Addy.

"Who?," Addy asked her, like she had no idea what was going on.

"Who do you think dummy?," Katie said, "Merle's brother." Addy sighed in frustration.

"I don't think he likes me," she said.

"He was sitting in the chair with you," Katie reminded her. "If he's not into it, you know Sketchy is sweet on you." Addy shrugged. Sketchy was fun, but he wasn't Daryl. Katie chewed on her bottom lip, trying to think of something she could do to help.

"I got an idea," Katie said. Her eyes lit up and she smiled in the way that Addy thought was sort of wicked and hilarious at the same time. Then she put her arm around Addy, giving her ass a gentle squeeze. They walked back to where the guys were sitting. Katie let go of Addy and grabbed at Merle, trying to pull him up and out of the chair. He humored her and stood up. She wrapped her arms around his waist and tiptoed up to lay a little kiss on him.

"Lets go down on the bus and do some shots," she said, "I got some te-kill-ya hid down there." Merle kissed her back, liking the sound of what she was suggesting. He started for the ladder, surprised to see Addy was walking along with them.

"Bring your brother," Katie told him, nodding her head towards Addy. Merle laughed. Had they been peeing or plotting back behind that wall. He guessed a little bit of both.

"Daryl!," Merle yelled at his brother. Daryl about jumped out of his skin.

"What in the hell you want?," he stood up and hollered back.

"Come on," Merle said, gesturing for him to come with them. Daryl was a little high and more than a little drunk. But he had plans to get even drunker yet, and he had heard something about tequila, so he got up and followed them. Roberta watched them head for the ladder.

"If you go down there," she told Katie, "you keep your drunk asses on that bus. No exploring."

"I was going down to wrestle a zombie," Katie called back at her, laughing. Roberta shook her head and moved over to take one of the lean back chairs they had left vacant.

"The only thing you are going to be wrestlin' is me," Merle informed Katie, giving her a hard swat on the ass. She shrieked out in suprise and then started laughing, rubbing at her behind. Grabbing hold of the metal bars of the ladder, she swung over and put her feet on the rungs. "You be careful on that ladder," Merle told her, his tone serious now. He would have liked to go down first, in case she was too drunk and lost her grip, but she was already on the move.

"Yes Merle," she told him in her sassy voice, making Addy laugh. Then she disappeared down the ladder. Addy climbed over next and by the time Daryl and Merle were on top of the bus, the girls had already jumped down inside it. Then Katie was up on one of the seats, digging through some clothes until she found the bottle of tequila she knew was hidden away in there. Then she dug out some small half pint mason jars and poured everyone a double shot. She and Addy clinked glasses and then tossed their drinks back.

"I wish we had some limes," Katie said. Tequila was so much better with a lime. Addy nodded. They had citrus trees back at home, but they had not brought any fruit with them.

"One more?," Addy asked. Seeing that the guys were nodding, Katie poured another round and then put capped the bottle and stuck it back where she found it. Then the girls clinked their little jelly jars together again and drank down the burning liquid. Then Katie took the jars and put them up in one of the ceiling baskets so they wouldn't get broken or stepped on later.

When she stepped down off the seat she was standing on to reach the basket, she pulled her shirt off over her head and tossed it towards the back of the bus where the air mattresses were. Then she closed the distance between her and Addy and pulled the other girl's shirt up over her head, being careful not to tangle it up in her hair. She tossed Addy's shirt away. Then she reached around her back and unhooked Addy's bra, tossing it in the same general direction she had thrown the shirts. Then Katie reached behind her back and unhooked her own bra, yanking it off and throwing it before shaking her shoulders out like taking that thing off had been the best feeling thing she had done all day.

Merle was watching the girls, not sure exactly what was going on, but enjoying the show anyway. Katie slid her hand up Addy's shoulder and cupped the back of her neck, pulling her close and kissing her. Addy knew the other run team girls often had what they liked to call 'a little bit of fun' with each other. She had never taken part in it before tonight, thinking since she liked boys, she would find it gross. But now, feeling the soft touch of Katie's breasts against hers, and the feel of her smooth skin and her full lips. She liked this a lot. And Katie could feel the other woman kising her back now, and Addy's hands were moving up her back. Then Katie was moving back away from her, walking her a few steps to the right before she shoved her towards Daryl.

Katie wasn't sure if what she did worked, but she figured if Addy couldn't take it from there, it was her own problem. She closed the distance between her and Merle, wrapping her arms around his neck and letting him lift her up off her feet. He held her close and headed for the beds. Then they got there, he set her down on her feet and she bent down to pull her boots off before she started on his. Then she was back up, pulling him down onto one of the beds with her. They rolled around together, kissing and pulling at each other's clothes. Merle heard some light laughter and footsteps, then some rustling noises coming from a bed a few feet away, that he assumed was his brother and Addy. Normally he would have thought good for Daryl, finally getting some, but he was far too involved with what he and Katie were doing to even care.

Merle grabbed Katie by the waist, rolling her on top of him so he could bury his face into her breasts. He knew he was too drunk to have the willpower to take his time with her, but he guessed she was too drunk to care anyway. She rolled off him, and unbuttoned her jeans, pushing them down along with her underwear and kicking them off. Then she was unzipping his pants and pushing them down so she could take him out and massage him with her hand. Katie heard him groan when she touched him.

"Like that?," she asked him softly. He moaned a little mmhmm noise. "How about this?," she asked. Then she sat up, straddling him and using her hand to guide him inside of her. She closed her eyes, her hands on his chest, rotating her hips. It didn't take her long before Merle heard her making her little noises that he knew by now meant she was finding her release. She collapsed against his chest, all that she had smoked and drank finally catching up with her. He held her close, rolling her onto her back. Then he propped himself up on his elbows and started pushing into her hard and fast. She wrapped her legs around him and held onto his shoulders. Her insides were tight and super sensitive from her orgasm and every thrust felt like it was hitting the most intense spot inside of her. When he came, she came again, the spasms rocking through her so hard it was on the brink of being painful.

Merle stay there a moment, kissing her neck and her lips, parting them with his tounge and getting one more kiss from her before he rolled off and pulled himself gently out of her. Katie lay there on her back, trying to catch her breath. Then she grabbed a light blanket and pulled it over both of them, and snugggling in close to him with her head on his chest.

"Thought you were gone be pissed at me?," he said quietly.

"For what?," she asked.

"Taking off. Bringing Martinez back to the bus," Merle told her.

"I was worried about you," she admitted, "I thought you went after the governor to kill him." He rubbed her back in soft circles. He hated to admit it, but Katie was a good woman. And he liked her. Maybe more than he wanted to admit. Except for his brother, Merle couldn't remember the last time he had someone in his life that cared if he lived or died.

"I was going to go after the governor," he told her. She gasped a little. "But I couldn't find him. I saw Martinez and knew he would want to come with us, so I snagged him."

"Is he a good man?," Katie asked. Merle figured she must be worried for Maria, and for the confusing situation that was sure to develop when they got back to camp. And Merle wasn't sure how to answer her question. He wasn't so sure he was a good man himself. So who was he to judge Martinez?

"He was willing to leave Woodbury when I told him he had a kid on the way," Merle said, hoping that was enough to answer her question. Katie lifted her head up and kissed him on the side of the mouth before settling back down on his chest. She fell asleep to the soft sounds of Addy's moans that were coming from the other side of the bus.

Daryl had just come down for a drink. The next thing he knew, some kind of amateur porno was going on in front of him. And then there was a half naked woman in his arms and his brother was taking off for the back of the bus with Katie. Addy felt Daryl tense up at first, but then his arms were around her. He pulled her hard against his chest and kissed her on the mouth. He tasted like tequila and the sweet stuff they had been smoking. He sat down in one of the bus seats, pulling her into his lap so he could fondle her breasts. He tugged at one of her nipples and then took the other one into his mouth. She was moaning and twisting her hands up into his hair. Any thoughts he had from earlier about not letting this sort of sloppy drunk sex happen tonight had flown out of his head the minute he tasted her skin. And then she was kneeling on the floor between his legs, unzipping his pants and taking him into her mouth. He put his arms up, gripping the top of the seat behind him. Daryl wasn't sure how much he liked Addy, but her mouth was warm and wet and she wasn't being shy with her hands or her tounge.

He tried to pull Addy back up into his lap, but she got on her feet instead and led him towards the back of the bus. Once they were back there, Daryl got a good eyefull of his brother and Katie getting it on. She was on top, riding him with her eyes closed and her head thrown back, tits out. He knew she had a nice rack, but seeing them was something else. They had to be the largest natural ones he had ever gotten a look at, at least in real life. He must have muttered something along the lines of good god damn, because Addy started giggling.

"Sorry," Daryl told her.

"Don't be sorry," Addy whispered. She pulled him down onto the bed with her. "Just come here." Then she took of her pants and pulled him on top of her. He had tucked himself back in on the walk back to the bed, so they just ground their hips against each other at first. She had her hands all over him, avoiding his back since he kept tensing up when she touched it. Instead she felt up and down his arms and his chest. And she reached into the back of his pants and grabbed his ass. Then she took him back out of his pants, stroking him with her hand between them. Daryl rolled onto his side, pushing her hand away and reaching between her legs. When she felt him touch her, Addy let her knees fall apart. He slipped a finger inside her to make sure she was ready. She was moaning and reaching for him. And inside her was warm and slippery wet.

Addy heard him swear again and then he was on top of her, using his hand to guide it in. Since she had already had him in her mouth, she knew what he was working with. He was a good size, nice and thick and not so long that she had to worry about him jabbing at her insides if he started getting rough. Daryl pushed into her, and she was rocking her hips up to meet him, grabbing his ass and pulling him as deep inside her as he could go. They moved together, the rhythm slowly building until he felt her walls close in around him with a rush of warmth. And she was digging her nails into him when he felt himself explode inside her. Before they got started, Daryl didn't think about how long it had been since he had a woman. He had been trying not to think about how good it felt and how much he missed having sex.

He rolled off her and pulled his pants back up. Addy was trying to snuggle in close to him, but he really wanted some space. He was hot and drunk and the world was starting to spin when he closed his eyes. Daryl covered his face with his arm and moaned.

"Hey Addy," Merle called to the girl, "turn on that fan before my brother blows fucking chuinks in here." He could hear Daryl and he was making his I'm too drunk I think I might puke noises. Puking all over this bus would not get them invited out an another run anytime soon. Addy plugged the big fan into the strip that led up to the solar generator on the roof of the bus. Then she pointed the fan towards Daryl and tuned it on high. She got him some cold water from the fridge. He took the bottle from her and twisted the cap off forcefully, tilting it back and drinking about half of it down in a few swigs.

"Sorry," he mumbled, "haven't drank in so long. Got no fucking tolerance anymore." He heard Merle laughing quietly on the other side of the bus, but he did not say anything else.

"Got something to say to me?," Daryl asked him.

"Yeah, shut the fuck up before you wake up Katie," Merle told him. Addy was glad the fan and the water seemed to be making Daryl feel better, but she was feeling a little awkward, sitting there naked while he argued with his brother. So she walked down the aisle and grabbed some shorts and a baggy tshirt to sleep in out of her things. When she got back, Daryl was lying on his side with his back to her. She grabbed a lightweight blanket and lay down, covering them both up with it. He grabbed the blanket roughly, tossing it off him and back at her. She had been thinking they could cuddle up together, but now she was afraid to even touch him. So she lay awkwardly on the small mattress next to him, wishing she could just fall asleep. He was bare from the waist up.

When the next cloud moved and the moonlight shone in though the windows of the bus, she saw why he had not wanted her to touch his back. It was covered in long ragged scars that looked like they were from many years ago. Addy could tell by his even breathing that he had fallen asleep some time ago. She traced her finger across the one that looked the worst. And then she leaned forward and placed a soft whisper of a kiss on the bumpy red line. _Goodnight Daryl._


	16. Chapter 16

Milton woke to the sound of a few intermingled feminine voices. He had tried to stay out of the way the night before so he could observe this new group from a bit of a distance. All the girls had been drinking and laughing. Some of them had gone to bed with men from the van that they had been trading with earlier. He was disappointed to see that the pretty blonde girl that had been so nice to him the day before seemed to be spending most of her time with Merle. It was hard for him to understand why any woman would be interested in a man like that. Especially a woman that still had all her teeth.

"Where are my dang gone clothes?," Katie complained, poking around in the blankets, trying to cover her breasts with her arm. She found her pants and underwear tangled up in her blanket, but her shirt and bra were no where to be found. Roberta was lying on one of the beds, laughing at her.

"There's a black one dangling over there," she told Katie, pointing to where she saw it. Katie darted over and snatched it up.

"Ah ha!," she declared. She hooked it and spun it around, flipping it up and adjusting herself so that it sat comfortably. She spied another one on the floor near where she found hers. "Addy!," she called, "I think I found yours!" Katie tossed the bra towards the other woman, who looked like she was still sleeping.

"What the hell were you doing down here last night?," Roberta asked her. When she came down to sleep, they had all been passed out, but the entire bus reeked of sex and tequila. Katie got up on the seat of the bus and started digging through her things, looking for a fresh tank top.

"I tricked Merle into coming down here," she said hopping up and down a little on the seat, "then I forced myself on him... sexually." This brought on some assorted laughter, including some from Merle, who was still huddled up under a blanket.

"Katie," he called out from under the covers, "Make me some fucking coffee!" She pulled her tank top on, then headed for the back of the bus and pounced on the lumpy shape under the blankets.

"If I make you coffee," she said, yanking at the blankets until his head was exposed, "what are you going to do for me?"

"How can you be this fuckin' chipper?," he asked her, "aren't you hung over at all?" He wrestled his good arm out from under the blanket and pulled her down so he could kiss her.

"Nope," she said, "I feel fine." She kissed him on his neck and behind his ear. When they started really kissing, Roberta leaned up from her bed and gave Katie a whack on the hip.

"Stop sucking his face and make the coffee Katie," she told her.

The noise, along with being pelted in the face with her own bra, woke Addy up. She rubbed her face and turned to try and cuddle into Daryl's chest, but he pushed away from her and got up.

"Got to take a piss," he informed her. Well good morning to you, she thought to herself. He past the first set of bus seats and headed into the second, pushing the window up and standing on the seat before he started pissing out the window.

"If any piss gets inside this bus," Roberta warned him, "you are cleaning it up." Addy was hoping Daryl might come back and lay down with her once he was done, but he headed up top to help Katie make the coffee instead. Addy was confused by his behavior. He seemed like he had a good time the night before, but now he didn't even seem to want to look at her. She wondered if she had done something wrong.

Mandy and Cassandra had spent the night on tents up on the roof. So Katie climbed up to the roof and woke them up. She was up and ready to get a move on. The party had been fun, but she wanted to go home and have a shower and see her son. She made two big pots of coffee, offering some the the men that had been their hosts. Daryl helped her, but didn't say much. She thought about asking him if he was alright, but decided not to. He seemed grouchy for someone that had been laid the night before, but maybe he was just hungover.

After everyone had some coffee, the girls packed up and said their goodbyes, reminding Sketchy that he could get ahold of them if he needed to. Milton sipped his coffee. The men from the van were not invited to come back to the girl's camp, and he was curious why. They seemed to know these men better than they knew him, and they were taking him back with them. He sat in a bus seat near the front, and was pleasantly surprised when Katie took the seat next to him. Her top was snug and low cut. And her hair was still fluffed up around her face from sleeping.

"Wanted to talk to you about what job team you are going to be on when we get back to my camp," she said. She smiled at him. Her lips were full and her smile was so warm and inviting, he couldn't help but smile back.

"What did you have in mind?," he asked her.

"Well, I run the gardening team," she said. He looked at her questioningly. Digging in the dirt wasn't really his thing. "We save seeds to plant the next year," she explained, "I usually take care of it, but I am not very organized and I don't have a lot of time to devote to it. I was thinking that would be a good job for you." Katie was so pretty, Milton would have agreed to do almost anything she asked him, but sorting and saving seeds was something he thought he might actually be good at.

"Yes," he told her, "I would be happy to help." Katie smiled and patted him on the leg. She was really trying to be as nice as she could to Milton. But the truth was that he reminded her so much of her ex-husband that it unnerved her a little. She kept having to force the image of his feet swinging in her upstairs hall out of her head. And the little squeak squeak noise that the rope had made were it was rubbing against the handle of the attic stairs. She got up quickly and set off to talk to Martinez and Andrea, smoothing her hair down. If they all had jobs before they got there, it would make things that much easier and save all the team leaders from having to hold a meeting later.

Rick had a long morning. Not because he was working hard. But because all he had done was watch a bunch of grown men water some pot plants and then sit around smoking the stuff. Eventually he had told them he needed to go check on his daughter. Tommy waved him off, telling to take the rest of the day and spend it with his baby. Now Rick was starting to understand why the women ran this place. The men didn't seem like they did much. He and his group had spent the last year running for their lives. He was finding it hard not to have anything to do.

Back at the house, he found Judith alseep in Zara's arms. Since there was a little dribble of milk slowly leaking out the side of her mouth, he guessed she had just been fed. Zara was rocking her in a comfy looking padded glider chair, singing a soft little song to her in what Rick guessed was her native language. She glanced up and smiled when he came in.

"Lunch?," she asked him. He felt it was unnecessary to explain his morning to the woman so he just nodded. She motioned for him to come closer. "Rick hold Judith. Zara get lunch." He nodded. Of course he would hold the baby while she went to get something to eat. She stood up slowly and waited for him to get settled in the chair. Then she passed him the baby, being careful not to wake her. They had a playpen and a crib for Judith. And he didn't think either item was going to see much use. Everytime he saw Judith, one of the women was holding her. And he was pretty sure the sisters were sleeping on the big bed in Zara's room with Judith between them so she wouldn't roll off. And all the loving attention showed. Judith was already reaching for Zara whenever she saw her. Rick was more grateful than he could express, but he was also scared. He was never going to be able to leave this place. Not unless he left his daughter behind. Zara was doing more than just feeding Judith. She was mothering her.

There was a soft tap on the door, and then the door swung open. He was pleasantly surprised to see it was Roberta that stepped inside the door.

"Back already?," he asked her. She smiled and nodded, coming closer so she could talk in a lower voice.

"We got Michonne's friend out," she said, "and ended up with a few more tagalongs."

"Andrea is alright?," he asked.

"Alright is a relative term," she said, "but she'll live if that's what you're asking." Rick nodded. And he was starting to wonder why Roberta was at his house. She obviously wasn't there to keep him informed of what was going on. Not even his own group members had bothered to do that before they left on a dangerous mission that could have put everyone at risk. She seemed to sense what he was thinking, and she reached behind her back. Then she pulled out one of the most beautiful looking guns he had ever seen. It was a Colt Python, same make as the one he had. But this one was so much nicer. It had a custom leather grip and the metal was shiny and new looking.

"We stopped to do some trading," she said, "and I saw this. I just knew you had to have it." She perched on the arm of the couch and handed the gun over to him. Rick looked it over as best he could without jostling Judith around too much. He wasn't even sure what to say. Even counting before the turn, this had to be the best present anyone had ever given him in his life. It even topped the air rifle his dad got him when he was nine.

"Thank you," he told her, feeling like the lamest man on earth. It was the only thing he could think of to say. Being smooth with pretty women had never been his strong suit. Lori had asked him out.

"You are very welcome," Roberta said, smiling at him. She reached into the side cargo pocket of her pants and pulled out a ziplock baggie full of bullets. Setting them on the table, she stood up. She reached for the gun and set it on the table next to them since Rick seemed to have his hands full.

"I have been on a bus for two days with some people who I am pretty sure do not use deodorant," she said, "so I am going home to shower." Rick laughed. He was trying to think of something to say to her. Anything.

"Maybe we could go out shooting sometime," he finally spit out, right before she was almost out the door. She turned back and looked at him. Her hair was in one long braid that fell forward over her shoulder. And the clothes she had on fit her well, showing off her curves. If that was his way of asking her out, it was pretty fucking lame. But it was better than nothing.

"I would like that," she told him. Then she headed out, shutting the door behind her with a soft click.

Katie's son rode in her lap while she took Andrea to the infirmary. When they arrived, Maria wasn't there. So Katie knew she was probably back at the house. Which meant she was going to see the guys and Martinez before Katie had a chance to talk to her. Which also meant Katie was going to be in a world of shit when she got home. She hopped in the little golf cart she used to drive Andrea to medical, setting her son next to her this time. Then she took off for her house. When she pulled up out front, she was surprised not to hear a lot of yelling going on inside. She went in though the kitchen door. Some quiet converation was drifting in from the greenhouse. Katie walked out to find Maria and Martinez sitting at one of the tables, drinking iced tea while her daughter played in the sandbox.

"I thought you were at medical," Katie said quickly, "I meant to talk to you first about... all this." She gestured towards the man at the table. Katie set Bash down and he ran over to destroy whatever little Angie was building in the sandbox. Katie shook her head and smiled at him. Then she looked at Maria.

"It's okay," Maria assured her. Maria had been making a big show, talking about not needing a man and raising the baby on her own. But the truth was, she was lonely. It had felt different when it was just her and Katie, but now that Katie had a man friend, she had found herself missing Angie's father more and more. When she had seen Merle and Daryl walk in with the father of the baby she was pregnant with, it had been a little shocking but not entirely unwelcome. "I told him he could stay in Jose's room," she said, "is that alright?"

"Of course," Katie said, "where is Jose going to stay?"

"He wants to move out with your brothers," Maria told her. Katie laughed. They were calling it the baby bachelor pad. All the teenage boys had moved out into one of the big cabins out near the peremiter of the inner wall. They had a little more freedom out there, and they were away from the other cabins, so they could make a lot more noise without disturbing anyone. Katie and Mandy went out there with Momma D once in a while and cleaned the place, much to the boys' displeasure.

Katie stepped closer and leaned down to kiss Maria on the cheek and rub her hand softly across her growing stomach. Then she rushed over to stop her son from rubbing sand into Maria's daughter's hair. She swung the small boy up into her arms.

"How about a nap?," she asked the boy hopefully. He shook his head back and forth forcefully.

"NO!," he told her.

"What if mommy lays down with you?," Katie asked. She gave Maria another smile and headed back into the kitchen and up the stairs. Bash threw a fit when she tried putting him in his own bed, so she tucked him into her bed and lay down on top of the covers next to him. Bash snuggled in close to her, wrapping his small arms around her and resting his head on her breasts. She could hear the shower running, so she told herself she was just going to close her eyes for a few minutes while Merle finished up in the bathroom. A few minutes he came out swathed in a towel to find Katie and her son snoring softly together on the bed.

Andrea got checked out by the medical team, which ended up being Hershel. He looked her over, keeping his face neutral. Michonne stayed with her, sitting near the bed and holding one of her hands. Hershel told Andrea she wasn't going to suffer any long term physical effects.

"Take it easy on that shoulder for a while, and a few days rest would do you a world of good," Hershel told her. Andrea nodded. Then there was a small knock on the door. An older looking woman with long silver hair that was tied up in a braided bun came in. She looked familiar, and it took Andrea a moment to realize it was because she looked just like that pretty blonde girl from the bus. They must be related, Andrea thought, maybe mother and daughter. The woman touched Hershel on the upper part of his arm, and from the way he smiled at her, Andrea thought something might be going on between the two of them. If there was, she was happy for them. Hershel was a good man.

The woman had a smile for Andrea. Now she knew the woman had to be related to Katie, they had the exact same smile. She sat down on the edge of the cot Andrea was sitting on. Then she stuck her hand out. Andrea stared at it for a moment then took the woman's hand in hers.

"I am Dolores Fox," the woman said, "but everyone here just calls me Momma D."

"Andrea." The woman nodded like she already knew.

"I wanted to welcome you to our camp," Momma D said, "I heard you had a bit of an ordeal before you came here." Andea looked down, not sure what to say. "I know my girls already spoke to you, but I wanted to let you know personally that you are perfectly safe. We don't tolerate that kind of behavior here."

"What kind is that exactly?," Michonne asked. She had heard several vague statements to that effect since she got here.

"Rape," Momma D told the woman bluntly. Michonne nodded. She appreciated the woman's direct nature. It was the same way Katie acted, only this woman had an air of authority that Katie lacked. This place was different from Woodbury. This woman was not a liar. And they had not taken her sword away. Michonne felt safe here. Andrea looked down but the woman caught her chin and lifted her head back up.

"You have nothing to be ashamed of," Momma D told her, "Most of the woman here have been through the same thing you have. We have been taking them in here since years before the turn." Hershel put his hand on the woman's shoulder, standing close behind her. He had heard her come and give a similar talk to the girls that had come in on the bus with him. She had held the younger one and let the girl cry in her arms.

Michonne didn't usually ask a lot of questions. But she was dying of curiosity and since the woman seemed to be willing to offer up information, Michonne decided to ask her one more.

"What was this place, before the turn?," she asked.

"Well," Momma D said. Really the place was a lot of things. "It was a self sustaining organic farm. And we ran camps for high risk youth in the summers. Girls camps where the girls came and learned self esteem. And kids gardening classed. We also ran a kind of women's shelter, for women in abusive realtionships and sex trafficking victims. To pay for all that, we grew and sold organic produce, sold seeds online, sold organic free range meats to resteraunts and high end grocery stores. We also had the hunting camping trips. People paid to come and stay and be taken on guided hunting tours. There were guided horseback trail riding. And there is a winery and brewery on the property. People used to pay to visit that and go on tours of the property." The woman smiled a big grin at Michonne. "That answer your question?" Michonne nodded. No wonder it was hard to explain what they did here. That was a lot and she had a feeling the woman was leaving out the endeavors that were a little less than legal. Like the pot growing and selling.

"You have room at the cabin you are staying in for her?," Momma D asked Michonne. Michonne nodded. They didn't have another room, but she had a huge bed in hers, so there was plenty of room for Andrea in there. Momma D nodded her approval.

"And you already have job assignment?," she asked Andrea. Andrea nodded.

"Katie said I could work with her on the gardens," Andrea said, "and maybe help a little with the rabbits. I used to have pet rabbits when I was a kid." Momma D nodded. Andrea would have balked at working on gardens and taking care of rabbits back in Woodbury, but she felt she had enough adventure for the time being. And the macho gun toting act she had been putting on seemed stupid to her once she met the girls on the bus. Katie and Mandy were some of the toughest girls she had met, and if they could cook and grow strawberries without feeling diminished, she could too.

"Why don't the two of you take the day and do some exploring of the property," Momma D suggested. She knew Andrea had not seen anything yet, and Michonne had only been on a short guided tour. When they finally got out on their own, most people were shocked at how big the property actually was. She watched Andrea climb off the cot and take off with the other woman. Momma D was happy with the new arrival. She could tell Andrea would be a good fit for their group. Hershel moved his one hand to her other shoulder and lifted the other one so he could rub her shoulders.

Everything he learned about the woman just made him more and more fond of her. She reminded him of Maggie's mother, who had been a no nonsense type. Beth's mother had been more like Beth, sweet, gentle and kind. The type of woman he could not have loved if his first wife hadn't busted his drunk ass into shape first. She leaned into his touch and then stood up so she could wrap her arms around him. Just one chaste kiss for now, she had other things to do besides fool around in the medical center all day. Dolores had been looking for a partner for a long time. Someone that could run this place along side her. An equal. And she believed she had found it in Hershel. He inspired immediate respect in everyone that he met. And he was a kind and gentle man. For the first time since her husband died, she had begun to feel hopeful again.

Daryl went for a long walk before dinner. He ended up out back looking at the brewery. That huge red haired man had been out front of the place and he had showed Daryl around, passing a joint between them as they walked. Then Tom took him out and showed Daryl his personal greenhouse. Growing inside was more pot than Daryl had ever seen in his life. There were all different kinds of it, which the man was more than happy to point out. Some types were grown for medicinal purposes, and some were more recretional. They had thin fine netting up to keep the bees from coming on and causing the plants to cross breed.

"You were doing this long before the turn," Daryl commented. There was no way this operation was less than a year old. Tom laughed.

"Oh yeah," he said, "been doing this shit for years."

"Never got caught?," Daryl asked. He and Merle had done a lot of illegal shit. But they had always gotten caught. The man shook his head.

"All Katie and Mandy's do gooder shit," he said, "the law never even blinked in my direction." He thought of a funny story. Being high always made him think about funny shit that happened. "Caught this retired cop poking around out here one time while he was on a wine tour with his wife. Thought he might blow the whistle on us. So Katie turned on the charm and gave him a whole freezer load of beef and pork and big fat roaster chickens and shit. Never heard another word out of that fucker." Daryl laughed. He bet one look down Katie's shirt and that old bastad had been ready to legalize pot himself. She was charming even when she wasn't trying, so he could only guess what she was like when she was laying it on thick.

Tom got them each a big mug of dark beer, and they sipped on them while they headed back up to the kitchen area for dinner. Once they got to the tent, Tom gave Daryl a slap on the back and headed over to sit with his son and table of the younger men. Daryl got himself a plate, juggling it while trying to sip his beer before it went flat. He spotted his brother sitting with Katie and her son, so he headed that way and took a seat across from his brother. Katie's son was acting like a regular fool, crumbling up his food and rubbing it on his little face, then trying to wipe his face off on her shirt.

"If you are done, why don't you go play," Katie suggested to the boy. He seemed to like the idea since he jumped down from his chair and took off. Katie stood up and tried to brush the crumbs off. A bunch of it had gone down her shirt so she leaned forward and almost upside down, trying to shake to food out of her bra. "Goddamn," she cursed, "I think my boobs ate more than he did." There was some laughter from the tables around them and from Katie, who knew she must look ridiculous. Maria came over with her plate. She pushed Bash's plate back and brushed the crumbs off the chair before she sat down.

"Was he stuffing food in your bra again?," she asked Katie. Katie flipped back up and tugged the hem of her shirt down.

"This time he was rubbing his face in food and stuffing his face in my bra," she said. "I feel like I need another shower." Daryl smiled and started in on his food. He saw that the hispanic man they had picked up from Woodbury was coming behind Maria, holding two plates. He set one down in front of the empty chair next to Maria for her daughter and the other one he sat down in front of himself. That left one empty seat at the table, next to Daryl.

Daryl felt a rustle near him and saw the chair next to him start to move as someone pulled it out to take a seat. He wrinkled up his face expecting to see Addy there. He wasn't sure if he liked her and he just felt awkward about what happened on the bus. Avoiding her for as long as possible was what he had in mind. But when he looked up, he saw it was Beth and he found himself smiling at her.

"Hope you don't mind," she said, "I was feeling like a 5th wheel over there with Glen and Maggie and my Dad and Katie's gram." Katie smiled at her. She had a feeling something was going on between her Gran and the new camp veterinarian. Beth's father remined her a lot of her own grandfather, so it was no surprise to her that her grandmother was attracted to him.

Beth noticed Daryl had smiled at her when she sat down. Or at least he had not been making his sulky, grouchy face, which was about the same thing. She had gone trail riding out in the woods while he had been gone on the rescue trip to get Andrea. It had been some of the most fun she had since the world ended, and she remembered he had shown some interest in going riding. She wasn't sure how to ask him about it. Maybe being blunt would be best. He didn't seem like the type to take a subtle hint. Beth finished chewing the bite of food that was in her mouth and swallowed it.

"I was going to go trail riding after dinner," she said. Then she nudged Daryl a little with her elbow, "want to go?"

"Huh?," Daryl grunted though a mouthful of food. Merle smirked. Daryl's dumbass was elbow deep in pussy and he had no fucking idea what to do with any of it.

"Horseback riding," Beth said to him like he was half retarded, "do you want to go? After dinner."

"Hell yeah I want to go," he announced. Katie and Maria laughed. They knew he had been out in the greenhouse with Tom, probably smoking some of Tom's special stash. It would be a miracle if the poor guy could stay on the horse after that. "You guys coming?," Daryl asked, pointing to his brother and Katie. Katie shook her head. She had to get home and put her son to bed. Beth let her breath out. She didn't realize until he started inviting other people to come along that she had been looking forward to spending time alone with Daryl.

"Go to put the monster to bed," she told Daryl. Then to Merle she said, "you should go if you want to. It's so nice out and the lake is really pretty this time of day." Daryl looked at his brother with his eyebrows raised, but Merle shook his head. Watching the sunset with his brother and one of the members of his ever growing fan club was not his idea of a good time. He wouldn't mind going out there with Katie sometime. Alone.

"You should take him out to the cabins this weekend," Maria told Katie. She was clearly talking about Merle.

"I was thinking about it," Katie said. She needed a break. All this on the road, kill or be killed stuff was taking it's toll on her. She smiled at Merle, thinking about getting some alone time with him. Maybe going for a swim in the lake and doing things that would frighten the fish.

"What are you going to do with Bash?," Maria asked. Katie shrugged.

"Take him along I guess?" Maria looked at her friend like she was nuts.

"You can't take Bash out to the cabin," she said, "not if you are trying to... you know, be _romantic._ " Katie laughed. She guessed Maria was right. Having a lunatic two year old around might be a bit of a mood killer.

"I leave him with Momma D too much already," Katie said. She was aleady thinking about not going. It had been a bad idea anyway. It was one thing when she had to leave to go out on the road, but leaving her son to go on vacation sounded selfish now that she was thinking about it. And her grandmother was in the beginning of a new relationship herself. She might want some alone time without Bash hanging around making a mess out of something every five seconds.

"I suppose I might be persuaded to watch him," Maria said, giving Katie a look that said _but then you will owe me_. "If..."

"If what?," Katie asked, like she didn't already know.

"If you make me albondigas when you get back on Sunday," Maria said. Katie laughed. Maria was the mexican, but she wanted Katie to cook mexican food for her because she liked the way Katie cooked it better. There had to be an off color joke in there somewhere.

"Fucking deal," Katie said, sticking out her hand. Maria shook it firmly with a big smile on her face. She would have to watch the little terrorist, but she was going to get her favorite dinner cooked for her. And Katie would be out of the house so she and Ceasar would have a little more privacy to get to know each other again after the kids went to bed.

Katie turned to Merle. "Guess what!?," she said, like he had no been sitting there the whole time and heard everything. She looked so excited all he could do was laugh. No one was ever that excited to spend time with him.

"What?"

"I'm taking you on vacation," she announced. He liked that she hadn't bothered to ask him if he wanted to go with her. It was fair enough. After all, he didn't know a man in his right mind that wouldn't want to get time alone with a hot ass woman like Katie.


	17. Chapter 17

Daryl adjusted himself in the saddle, looking for a comfortable spot. Beth was riding ahead of him on that pretty palomino horse she had been petting in the barn together a few days before. With her tan skin and sun lightened hair, she looked almost the same color as the horse she was riding. And he could tell by the way she was guiding the horse that she hadn't been bullshitting about knowing how to ride one. She had picked Daryl out a dark brown horse with a black mane and white markings on its head and legs. He could tell the woman had been unsure about his riding skills, because the horse was gentle and went where he wanted it to go without much effort on his part. Beth pulled her horse to the side of the trail so he could walk his up next to her. She had a big smile on her face.

"Want to race?," she asked him. Daryl shrugged. Beth guessed that meant yes and kicked her heels into her horse, taking off at a fast pace.

"That's cheatin'," Daryl called after her. His horse did not need much encouragement and in a moment he was leaning forward, chasing Beth through the woods with the trees and bushed whipping past them. Her hair was flying out behind her and she was using her thighs to grip the sides of the horse. He knew he wasn't going to be able to pass her on the narrow trail, but he wasn't going to let her leave him in the dust either. They came up around a bend in the trail and Beth could feel her horse breathing hard, so she slowed it down. When Daryl came around the bend behind her, he also pulled back on the reins, looking out at the view of the lake.

The lake was bigger than he expected, making the cabins on the other side look tiny. There was a beachy looking area covered in sand that he guessed had been brought in and dumped there intentionally at some point. Two docks ran along the sides of the swimming area, boxing it in. He guessed there was some kind of fencing under them that went down into the bottom of the lake to keep the larger fish and turtles out. There were a few floating docks out in the deeper water that looked like they were anchored down to keep them from floating all over the place.

The cabins looked more like little lake houses, and they were spaced out around the perimeter of the lake. Some were set further back from the lake with more of a fire pit patio type area behind them, and some were right up on the water, surrounded by floating docks. There were some small boats were floating in the water tied up to the docks and a few were up on top of the docks upside down. A larger pontoon boat was out in the middle of the lake with some people on it. Beth waved at them and when they waved back Daryl could see it was Glen and Maggie, along with that woman from the barn with the tattoo on her shoulder and that geeky man they had picked up from Woodbury. Hex and Milton, Daryl thought. He had been making a concious effort to try and remember people's names. They were sitting in chairs on the boat, drinking and watching the sun go down. And he didn't blame them.

The sunset was as pretty as Katie had been saying it would be out here. The sun was so dark orange it almost looked red and the colors shone down on the lake, reflecting in the ripples of the water. Looking at the natural beauty of this place, it was easy to pretend that all the terrible things that happened up until this point had just been some kind of nightmare. Beth clicked her tounge and started leading her horse down the trail again, so Daryl followed her. She turned off onto a smaller trail on the right that led up to one of the cabins. When she got close, Beth swung her leg over and jumped down from her horse. She took a rag out of the saddle bag and wiped at the places on the horse that had gotten sweaty on the run.

"What are we doing?," Daryl asked her.

"The deck at this cabin is the best one to sit and watch the sunset," Beth told him. She had come out the night before with Hex and a few of the other girls. They let their horses graze a while and sat on the deck drinking mojitos with fresh mint from the little garden next to the cabin. "If you don't want to stay, just follow that trail, it curves around and cuts right back to the gate we came out of." Daryl snorted and climbed down off his horse. Then he took the rag Beth was using and wiped his own horse down. He laid it on top of his saddle to let it dry off.

Beth walked up a little stone path and opened the door to the cabin like she owned the place. Then she walked inside and started rooting through the fridge.

"Are you sure we are allowed to be in here?," Daryl asked. The place was nice inside. Better than what he had been picturing when Katie was talking about lake cabins. He wondered if this was the cabin Katie was planning on taking his brother to for the weekend.

"Relax," Beth told him, "It's fine. Everyone does it." She popped back out of the fridge with a wine cooler in her hand. "Hex said just bring some drinks out here from the store room to replace the ones you drink." Daryl shrugged and took a look in the fridge himself. When he saw the whole thing was full of alchol and juice, he relaxed. This was obviously put here for people to drink. It was not someone's personal stash. And a bunch of it looked like the shit they had snagged at that big box store. Which meant some of it was technically his anyway, since he had helped on the run. He grabbed a bottle of beer off the top shelf and twisted the top off, taking a long swig.

"Do me a favor?," Beth asked. She swung her wine cooler around in front of her. "Don't mention this to my dad." Daryl nodded. It was a 4% alcohol wine cooler. He figured she wasn't exactly living dangerously. Beth showed him around the cabin, like Hex had done for her. She could tell he was looking at the place with a lot of interest, poking his head into the different rooms.

"Wonder if this is the one Katie is bringing my brother too," he mentioned casually.

"Doubt it," Beth told him. He cocked his head at her. "The ones over on the south side are where the couples go," Beth explained, "those ones have wood fire hot tubs." Beth felt her face get a little flushed, thinking about what people may or may not be doing in those tubs.

"Really?"

"I dunno," she said, "that's just what Hex said when she was showing me around." Beth headed for the patio door and slid it open. Daryl followed her out and shut it behind them. They walked down a steep set of cement steps that led to a large deck. It looked out over the water on the lake. In the middle there was an area of the deck that was covered in layer of thick patio stones. It held a little metal firepit with some ashes inside. Off to the side of the deck was a stack of wood and a small tupperware container that Daryl guessed held the materials needed to start a fire. Beth took a chair from around the fire and set it on the edge of the deck looking out over the lake. Daryl took another one and pulled up next to her. They sat a while in silence, looking out over the lake. And he was grateful for the moment to be with a girl who could just enjoy the view without talking his ear off. He didn't stare directly at Beth, but he got a good look at her out of the corner of his eye.

She had her legs curled up under her, and she was slowly sipping her drink. Her ponytail hung long and curly down behind the back of the chair. She closed her eyes for a while and then opened them again. Her eyes were big and blue and the lashes around them were a few shades darker than the hair in her head. Daryl found himself wondering why she had brought him out here. Even he knew the setting was romantic, but she didn't seem like she wanted to have sex or any other type of relations with him. And why would she, he had to be twice her age at least. She should have brought one of those goofy hunt team boys out here. Maybe one of Katie's pretty little brothers or Tom's ginger mini me. Daryl had seen that kid hovering around Beth, looking at her and smiling big and stupid. Daryl tippped his bottle up, draining out the last few drops into his mouth.

"Gonna get dark soon," he said, "better head back." Beth sighed. She knew he was right, but it was such a nice night out. If they didn't have to take the horses back, she might be tempted to build a little fire and stay out here longer watching the lightning bugs flash in the trees around the lake. She stood up, taking Daryl's empty bottle and leaning down to rinse it out before tossing both bottles in the bin Hex showed her the night before. They reused everything here. The she and Daryl headed back up the path to the house. They got back on their horses and headed for home.

Rick was eating dinner with his son and a table full of women. Zara and Selena had taken to eating their meals with him, and Roberta and Addy had taken the other two seats. That's why he heard that something was going on. Cassandra ran out to the dining tent from the main house. He could tell from the look on her face that something was happening.

"We got a pickup, safe haven number four," Cassandra said to Roberta and Addy. Both women jumped up, leaving their food on the table. Rick thought about it and then stood up and followed them. They had not invited him to come, but no one had told him he couldn't either.

"How many?," Roberta asked Cassandra as they walked quickly for the house.

"They said four adults and two kids."

"We can take the big truck," Addy suggested. Roberta nodded and Addy took off in another direction while Roberta and Cassandra headed inside the house. Rick went in behind them. They walked to an area of the house he had not seen yet. It looked like some kind of control room. There were tons of tv monitors, most looked like they were pointed at the walls and key points on the property. There was a shelf full of CB radios and satellite phones. Mandy was talking on one of them to someone. When Roberta came in she stopped.

"Has that got enough charge?," Roberta asked her. Mandy nodded and pulled the cord out that the phone was hooked to. Then she handed to phone to Roberta.

"His name is Keith," Mandy told her. Roberta spoke into the phone. _Hello Keith? ... This is Roberta Warren with the Missouri National Guard ... Look above where you found the phone, are you sure its the number four thats painted on the wall there? ... How many Z's are outside the place where you are hiding? ... Stay calm we are coming to get you ... ETA is under twenty minutes ... When you hear gunfire outside, that's us, please do not shoot at us ... If they start to push in the door, take your family and go in the large walk in freezer in the back of the store ... Okay Keith we will see you soon, over and out._ She turned the phone off and hooked it onto her belt.

"What's a safe haven?," Rick asked. She looked at him and then exchanged glances with Cassandra.

"Why don't you come with us and find out," she suggested. Rick technically had not been cleared for run trips, but neither had Katie's sneaky ass boyfriend or his pouty ass brother. So she figured she would take along whomever she chose. Rick nodded and followed her down the hall. Cassandra opened another door he had not been let into and then opened up a cage door that was on the other side. This was their armory. He recognized some of the things they had gotten from Morgan. Roberta shoved a pistol in her holster and grabbed one of the large rifles. Cassandra did the same. And she grabbed extra for Addy. Rick had his colt on him, but he took a small semi automatic with and extra clip and fastened it to his ankle. Then he took another one of the rifles he saw Roberta grab.

"Don't forget your silent kill," Cassandra said. When he looked at her like he didn't know what she meant, she picked up a baseball bat and handed it to him. He understood now. A quiet weapon in case they didn't want to make noise with the guns. They all backed out of the gun cage and Cassandra locked the door back up. The girls were moving quick and Rick was curious to see what it was that was so important. Roberta had been talking on the phone to someone she clearly did not know. And now it seemed they were going to meet this person.

Addy was outside in front of a huge double cab black pickup truck. Rick wasn't one hundred percent sure, but he guessed it was a diesel engine. Addy and Cassandra jumped in the open truck bed, standing and holding onto a large bar that ran across the top of the truck. Roberta drove, and Rick climbed into the cab to ride shotgun. A woman he had not met yet opened up the gate for them and Roberta spend down the driveway. The second gate was opened for them as well and then they were off, out on the open road. Nothing between them and the walkers but air.

"Safe Haven is like a survivor outpost," Roberta explained as she drove, "We have ten of them in the area. Inside are basic medical supplies, water, food and a phone that's anchored to the wall so they can call us."

"What happens after they call you?," he asked.

"We go and meet them. If they seem alright we take them back with us."

"What if they don't seem alright?"

"Then we don't take them back with us." Her answers were truthful, but short and to the point. She didn't offer up any extra information other than what he specifically asked. Rick had the feeling again that there was something he wasn't being told.

"How do you decide?," Rick asked. They were going to have to decide quick. Especially if the place was crawling with walkers. Roberta glanced at him. She had a feeling he would know if she lied to him.

"By how many men they have with them," she admitted, "We don't take in men unless they are part of a family group. We made an exception for Daryl and Merle because of Katie." Rick listened closely, trying to decide what he thought of the idea. Whatever they were doing, he had to admit it was working for them. And he was glad to know he would have been excepted either way because of his children.

"If Katie had not spoke up for them?," Rick asked.

"You were a pretty close group. And we really wanted Hershel, so we would have talked about it first," Roberta told him, "but the rest of you might have been invited to come with us and they might have been invited to fuck off." Rick laughed. He wasn't sure how he felt about the idea that all men were untrustworthy. Daryl was an asset to the group. But he didn't blame the girls for how they felt. He got the feeling a lot of them had perfectly good reasons for how they felt about men.

It was about another ten minutes before they pulled up outside an abondoned McDonalds. There were signs painted all around the building that said SAFE HAVEN and SURVIVOR OUTPOST in hot pink and purple. The door that must have been left open was outlined in more of the hot pink spray paint that the girls seemed to favor. About a dozen walkers were around the outside of the building, pushing against the door and rubbing along outside the windows. Rick watched Cassandra wind up the little musical necklace she wore and toss it away from the building. The walkers went for it immediately. Then Cassandra and Addy started shooting them. Rick got out and so did Roberta, and between the four of them, they had all the walkers put down in almost no time at all. Cassandra retrieved her necklace and put the thin gold chain back around her neck. Then Roberta pounded a few times on the door with the pink paint on it.

This was always the worst part of doing pickups. Once the people saw they were all girls, or in this case mostly all girls, they always relaxed. But before they got a good look at them, people were usually scared and ready to shoot them. Addy fumbled with a big ring of keys that was attached to her waist with a stretchy elastic leash. She found the one with a number 4 on it and opened the door.

"We are coming in," she called inside, "We are here to help you, please do not shoot us." She looked at Roberta before she took a deep breath and stepped inside the door. Cassandra and Roberta stayed close behind her. And Rick took up the rear. He locked the door from the inside behind them to make sure no more uninvited guests came through behind them. Addy walked slowly with her gun up, looking for the people she knew were inside. When she came around the corner she saw two men with guns trained on her.

"We said don't shoot us," Roberta told the men, "so everyone stay calm. Which one of you is Keith?"

"Me," the man on the right told her.

"Alright Keith," she said, "I am going to put away my gun and I want you and your friend to do the same." Addy and Cassandra knew that meant to lower their weapons as well. Rick followed their example, but kept his hand on his gun after it was back in his holster just in case. He relaxed a bit when he saw the other men lower their guns.

"You really with the national guard?," the man not named Keith asked. She looked too pretty. More like a model than a soldier.

"When there used to be a national guard I was," she told him. "You said there were four people and two kids here, the rest of you hiding in the cooler?" Keith nodded.

"Go on and bring them out," Addy said, "we don't mean your family any harm." Whoever was hiding in the cooler must have had the door cracked open, because after Addy said that, she saw the door open slowly and two women with very dirty faces and hands looked out at her. A little girl that looked about nine peeked out around them. Addy smiled and waved at her.

"Hi," she told the girl. The girl smiled and then hid behind her mother. But it broke the ice. There was some general introductions and some hand shaking. The women came out, one holding the hand of the girl Addy waved at and the other one had a bit of a limp and a sleeping toddler strapped to her back. Rick noticed how quickly the new people got comfortable as soon as they saw that the group that had come to pick them up was mostly women and run by a woman. They had been terrified to call the number painted on the phone, but they had been desperate too.

"Why don't you tell me how you all know each other," Roberta suggested. Rick had a feeling that's how she found out whether or not the men were related to the women they had with them. It was one of the women that spoke up.

"This is my husband Keith, and my daughter Kim," she said, touching the older girl lightly on the shoulder, "this is Anna and Sam. We don't know the little girl's name for sure but we have been calling her Mariah."

"She's not yours?," Addy asked the woman with the small child on her back. Anna shook her head. The man that was hovering close to her explained.

"People panicked and ran when we were at the refugee center. That's what happened to Anna's leg. We think her parents got trampled or maybe they just ran and left her behind," he said. Anna pulled up her long skirt, revealing a tattoo on her leg and a broken ankle that had healed badly.

"We have a doctor back at our camp," Addy said, "maybe he could help you." She knew Roberta had not technically given these people her stamp of approval, but they had saved a child that was not even theirs. How much nicer could you get than that?

"You would let us?," Anna asked, "come back to your camp with you?" She sounded so excited, even Roberta smiled. And her boyfriend had a big smile on his face too. He was looking down at her leg and then smiling at her. He had been praying on a miracle.

"Why are you helping us?," Keith asked. Roberta sighed. That was always the hardest question to answer. Katie was best at it. But Katie wasn't here.

"It's what we do," Cassandra said, "that's why we set up this outpost. To help people." Keith's wife touched him gently on the shoulder.

"What have we got to lose?," she asked him. He looked at the group of people in front of him and then looked down at his daughter. He nodded to his wife. She was right. They would die if they stayed here. Maybe there was a chance these people were telling the truth.

"Okay," Roberta said clapping her hands together, "go back and try to put as many things back the way you found them as you can for the next people." The small group went back, reluctantly putting the uneaten food they had found back on the shelves and taking the rest of the stuff they had filled their bags up with and putting it back. Sam folded up the blankets they had been using and set them on the cot where he found them.

"I think that's it," he said.

"We have a big truck outside," Roberta told them, "I want everyone in the back bed except Anna and the little one. Rick, you stay with her and help then up into the truck, okay?" Rick nodded. After that things went quickly. They took out the Zs that had shown up outside, drawn in by the earlier gunfire. And then shut and locked the door, haning the spare key the people had used to get in next to it on a big pink keychain. Anna handed the sleeping child to Rick and climbed up into the passenger seat of the truck. He handed the girl back to her and then hopped up in the bed of the truck with everyone else. Addy gave two quick whacks on the roof of the truck and they were off. When they were on the road, Rick could hear Roberta inside the truck, calling Mandy back at camp and letting her know they were incoming with some new members.

Rick had been impressed when he had first been taken inside the walls of Roberta's camp. And it was fun to watch the expressions on the faces of the people they had just picked up. The man named Keith was trying to keep his face more neutral, but his little girl and her mother were staring with their mouths open.

"You are all going to have to get checked by medical," Cassandra told them, "then we will get you all something to eat and a shower." Once the truck stopped, some women came out and whisked the group away. Cassandra collected the guns Rick had taken from the armory, and Roberta handed hers over as well.

"What did you think of that?," Roberta asked him. She was smiling.

"Does it always go that smooth?" She laughed.

"No they were easy," she said, "I got some good stories. How about I tell you a few over drinks?" Rick liked the sound of that. He held out his arm for her to take. She hesitated a moment and then threaded her arm though his and started down the driveway towards her house.

Milton was not sure what he had been expecting when he arrived at his new camp. And he still wasn't sure he believed what he had seen. Woodbury had seemed like a utopia, but this place made it look like a trailer park. He could tell right away that the people at this camp had been living off the land for years before the dead started walking the earth. And so many of them were women. Everywhere he looked there were more women. Some stared at him, or avoided his gaze, scurrying quickly away in the opposite direction. But some of them gave him another type of look, one he wasn't used to getting from women.

Since he had come from Woodbury, he wasn't in terrible need of food or a shower, so he was shown to a cabin where he would be living and then told he was welcome to explore the property. He wandered aimlessly for a while, surprised at how big the place was. He ended up near a large barn that housed horses and even some cows. A tall woman with dark wavy hair and a tattoo on her shoulder came out and welcomed him, offering to show him around. Her name was Hex. Whether that was a last name, first name or nick name, he wasn't sure and he didn't ask. Before he knew it, he was sitting next to her at dinner. She was not the kind of girl he would usually be attracted to, since she looked like she couldn't possibly have more than a high school education. But he soon found himself engrossed in a long discussion with her about how the camp was run and different types of government, books on the subject and women's rights. He guessed the latter was a popular topic of discussion at this camp.

When she invited him out to the lake, he acccepted eagerly. Another couple ended up coming with them, and he heard an interesting story from them about things the governor had done to them that Milton had not been aware of. He felt bad for them, and even more relieved that he had left Woodbury when he did. He felt a little guilty about the people he had left behind at Phillip's mercy. But there was nothing he could do for them now. When the man found out that he, Andrea and Martinez were gone, there was no doubt in Milton's mind that it was going to send the man futher over the edge than he already was.

Hex pulled her chair closer to his and placed her hand gently on his leg. She looked at him in that way that he was not used to being looked at by women. They usually didn't pay him much attention. And pretty girls with sexy tattoos did not rest their hands on his thighs or try to sit closer to him. Not in real life, anyway. Milton was having a hard time convincing himself that all of this was really happening. Maybe he was back at Woodbury in bed asleep, or maybe he had died in his sleep and this was heaven. He took a large swallow of his beer, trying not to grimace at the bitter taste of it. Then he looked out over the lake and reminded himself to live in the moment. Not to think ahead too far ahead about what might or might not happen with this girl and what the consequences of it might possibly be.


	18. Chapter 18

It was late Saturday morning. Katie was still asleep, or at least half asleep. She had kicked the blankets off, and she was sprawled out across the bed naked, lying on her stomach hugging the pillow she was resting her head on. Merle opened the fridge, poking around, trying to figure out what she had brought for them to eat for breakfast. There were some eggs in a little basket, a few sausages and a small tupperware that had a piece of paper taped to the top. It said **pancake mix, add one egg and one cup water.** That didn't sound so hard. There was also a huge jug of iced tea inside the fridge that Katie had made the might before and a smaller jar that was full of orange juice. He took the juice out, pinning the cold jar against his stomach with his forearm so he could twist the top off with his one good hand. Then he started poking through the cabinets, trying to find the pans.

Katie woke to the feeling of her back being rubbed in soft circles. She moaned softly into the pillow, snuggling it closer to her. "If I have sex again before I get something to eat," she mumbled, "I think it might kill me." She heard some soft laughter, and then she felt Merle's lips on the sensitive spot behind her ear. They had sex the night before when they got to the cabin. Got the hot tub going and had sex in there. Had dinner and then had sex again. And then in the middle of the night he woke her up and they had sex. What he was doing felt good, but her stomach was grumbling and her legs felt like jello.

"That's why I made you breakfast," he whispered into her ear, nibbling at the side of it. At the mention of food, Katie's head popped up like a jack in the box. She didn't bother to get dressed, instead she grabbed the sheet from where it was tangled up near the foot of the bed and wrapped it around herself like a towel. She padded over to the table with the sheet dragging behind her on the floor like a train.

"You really did make breakfast," she exclaimed. She leaned over the table and smelled the food on her plate. "It even smells good." Merle laughed at her reaction. You would think a man had never made her breakfast before, he thought to himself. He took one of the chairs at the table only to have her sink down on his lap with her arms around his neck. The sheet was falling down off her breasts. She kissed him on the cheek.

"Thank you, this is so sweet," she told him. Then she took the seat next to him instead of the one across the table, leaning over to pull her plate in front of her. She was smiling from ear to ear. He had to admit, doing nice things for Katie was sort of fun. The only time he had seen other girls get this excited was when he bought them something expensive. This was just some pancake bullshit and she was acting like she was in disney world.

"Ain't a man ever made you breakfast before?," he asked. Katie poured syrup on her plate, soaking everything but the eggs. She wiped the little drip of syrup of the side of the jar and stuck her finger in her mouth. Then she shook her head.

"Nope." She smiled at him again. "My husband couldn't even boil water without burning it. Sometimes we would go stay in a nice hotel and he would order in breakfast for me... but that's not really the same." Merle gave a little grunt and watched her use the side of her fork to cut up the food on her plate, ignoring the knife that he had set out for her to use. He worked on his own food, thinking about what she had said to him. He had seen the rings she sometimes wore around her neck, so he knew she had a husband who must have died, but that was really the first thing she had ever said to him about the man. It made him curious. He wanted to know what happened to the man but he didn't want to ask. And especially not now. Talking about how her husband died would be a real mood killer.

After breakfast, Katie had somehow managed to get syrup all over both her arms and in her hair. So she dragged Merle into the shower with her. They started kissing in there. Then they dried off and went back to the bed. He pulled her towel open and rolled on top of her, kissing her hard on the mouth. Then he felt her hand between them, guiding him inside her. She tilted her hips up, her legs rising to wrap around him. He moved slowly, kissing her on her neck and on her mouth. Her eyes were shut and she was moaning and whimpering, digging into his back with her nails. Then she was making the little high pitched noises that he knew by now meant she was coming. She always made the noises first, then he would feel her insides start to convulse around him. When he was spilling inside her, he heard her say it.

"Oh my god that feels so good, I love you, I love you."

He pulled out of her, rolling onto his back. She turned, resting her head on his chest and throwing her arm across his chest. Katie leaned up and kissed him on the side of the mouth, then settled back down in her comfy spot. She felt him tense up under her, but he made no move to push her away or leave. His eyebrows were drawn together like he was angry or upset about something. She guessed maybe he was going to get weird about her saying she loved him. Well, she hadn't meant to say it, it had just kind of came out of her. And she wasn't going to apologize for her feelings. She decided to just wait him out. Merle had a way of saying what was on his mind with no filter. If he wasn't talking, maybe he didn't know how he felt.

They lay there a moment with an awkward tension between them. Finally he sighed and she felt him wrap his arm around her, bringing his hand over to brush her hair back from her face. He took a few deep breaths.

"I am not a good man," he said. From the way he said it, Katie could tell he really believed it. And that made her sad for him. She knew arguing with him would not do any good. He had probably been told so many times in his life that he was a piece of shit, there was no way she could undo all that with a few kind words.

Merle excpected Katie to object right away to what he said. If she was telling him she loved him, she was clearly in deep denial about the kind of man he was. But she didn't. Instead she rolled away from him onto her back. She stared up at the ceiling with a faraway look on her face. She had gone somewhere else, somewhere painful that only Katie could go. When she started talking, her voice sounded like it belonged to someone else. Katie was bouncy and bubbly. Nothing ever bothered her. The person lying on the bed next to him now had been through something terrible. The sort of thing that a person never really got over.

"My husband was a good man," she said, her voice husky. "He was the kindest and most gentle man I have ever known. He saw the best in everyone, especially me." She cleared her throat and swallowed hard. "And now he's dead." There was a tinge of anger in her voice when she said the last part. Like she was mad at him for being dead. There was only one thing Merle could think of that she might be that angry at a dead person for.

"He kill himself?," Merle asked. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know, it was more like he needed to know. There was something going on with Katie that he could never quite put his finger on. And he had a feeling this was it. She nodded, her eyes starting to fill with tears that had not started spilling out yet.

"After the turn, he couldn't take it. He said he couldn't protect me, he wasn't made for this world. He left me and Bash here alone." She wiped at her eyes. "That fucking coward," she swore. Merle couldn't take any more. He grabbed her, pulling her roughly into his arms and holding her against his chest. He understood it all now. Why she liked him so much. She was looking for someone strong. Someone she knew wouldn't check out on her. Someone who could teach her son how to be a man in the world they lived in now. It struck him in that moment that Katie knew exactly what kind of man he was. And she loved him anyway.

"You shoot like a cop," Roberta told him. Rick was trying to concentrate on his shooting, which was hard with Roberta next to him in a tight shirt.

"You shoot like you're in the army reserves," Rick quipped. She looked at him, tilting her head and raising one eyebrow.

"Oh hell no you didn't," she said, "this isn't a damn date anymore, now its a serious competition." Rick smiled. He wasn't sure if he was on a date until she said that.

"You know I don't usually take girls shooting for a first date," he mentioned. Roberta lifted up her gun and aimed at a glass bottle that was sitting on the fence. She pulled the trigger and the bottle exploded.

"Where do you take them then," she asked. He thought about it. It had been so long since he had been on a date that he could barely remember the last one he had. It would have to have been with Lori, before they were married. He was taking so long to answer that Roberta started laughing.

"I took my ex-wife out for ice cream on our first date," he finally spit out. Lori did marry him eventually, so he must have been doing something right. Roberta smiled. If he could take her anywhere, it wouldn't be out for ice cream.

"Would you rather go have some ice cream?," she asked.

"Do you have ice cream?," he asked. She nodded. They had cows and a big old fashioned ice cream machine. She wasn't sure on the particulars of how it was made, but there were usually glass jars full of ice cream in the main kitchen freezer. Rick stuck his gun back in his holster. "Then hell yes I want some."

The day was warm, and Rick sat down next to Roberta at one of the outdoor tables. Some kids were playing soccer in the grassy area next to them, using laundry baskets as the goals. When Rick took a better look at them, he saw Carl was one of them. He pushed his hair back out of his face and kicked the ball to another boy that looked a little older than him. The boy looked familiar, and Rick finally recognized him as one of Katie's twin brothers. He had been at that big box store, helping to load food and supplies.

Roberta felt a tap on her shoulder, she looked up, suprised to see it was Momma D. She had not even seen the woman walking over. Rick watched the older woman lean down and whisper into Roberta's ear.

"Sorry," Roberta told him, "I have got to go." He started to stand up and follow her, but she held out her out to stop him. "Not this time," she said. Rick sat back down and watched her go, feeling the familiar frustration of not being informed of what was going on.

Daryl was sitting on the front porch of what he knew the girls liked to call the baby bachelor pad. Maria and that Martinez guy had been looking for some privacy, so she suggested that he go stay with one of his lady friends for the weekend, or come out here. He chose to come out here. Most of the younger men had run off to do whatever it was that they did, and he was left alone. Blissfully alone. He felt like he had not had a moment to himself since the beginning of the turn. And now that he did, he had himself a good mind to roll a few joints and head out to that lake cottage Beth had taken him to. Sit on the porch, drink some beers and smoke himself stupid.

Before he could change his mind, he set out to do just that. There seemed to be an endless supply of marijuana around this place. So much that they boys that lived here took off and left it piled all over the table. One of the friendlier barn cats had wandered in and eaten some of it. Now it was rolling around on the floor, making itself purr. Daryl knelt down and scrathed its belly. Then he rolled himself a few joints out of the pile on the table and tucked them into his cigarette pack.

In the storage containers where they kept all the extra clothes and shoes, he found a huge stack of cartons and cartons of smokes against one wall. He had taken a few. The only thing he had been in trouble for since he got here was flicking his cigarette butts onto the ground when he got done smoking. Seems he flicked a butt into one of Katie's organic medicinal herb gardens and she had really given him the business. He was told he had to put them into a burn barrel from now on, not just drop them anywhere. Normally he would just ignore the rule, but since it was really the only thing he had been asked to do around here, he was trying to be good about doing it.

He grabbed his crossbow from near the doorway and slung it over his back. Then he headed for the path that he knew would take him outside the main wall. He found himself wondering how his brother and Katie were doing out at the cabin she took him too. _A full weekend with that asshole and she is going to be ready to kill him._ Even Daryl found his brother a little hard to take after too much time alone with him. But then again, women seemed to like Merle. Why they did was something Daryl could never figure out.

It was a beautiful day, and the walk out to the cabin was peaceful. Daryl was disapointed when he got there. He heard voices. Someone was already out there. He thought about leaving, but then he remembered this wasn't a couples spot. Maybe he ought to go in and see who was there. Grab a beer. No one would make him stay if he didn't want to.

He walked in to find Glen bent down, digging through the fridge. Glen popped up, startled to see someone standing there. Then he smiled.

"Long time no see man," he said. "Want to hang out, we are grilling out down on the patio." Daryl nodded. He had been looking for some alone time, but hanging out with people that he actually knew sounded just as good. Hex walked in and grabbed a couple beers from the fridge. She smiled when she saw Daryl.

"I knew bringing an extra steak was a good idea," she told him. He found his stomach start to growl at the mention of steaks. Hex must have seen the light in his eyes, because she told him, "We dry rubbed some of those steaks from the cows you guys got on your way in. Mandy does them up special and they are always beyond amazing." She pulled a couple of bottles of red wine out of the fridge. "We brought these to go with the steaks." Daryl couldn't do anything but nod. This day was just getting better and better. And then Beth walked in the door behind him with a big bowl of salad greens from the little garden outside.

"Oh," she said, "Hi Daryl, are you staying for dinner." He nodded. "Did Hex tell you what we have?" She sounded excited.

"Steaks?," he asked. She nodded.

"And me and Maggie went shrooming earlier and got a bunch of morel mushrooms," she added.

"Nice," Daryl told her.

"Since you're here, do you want the very manly chore of getting the grill going?," Hex asked. When she said the word manly she lowered her voice and made a funny face. Daryl shrugged and nodded. He grabbed a beer and headed downstairs and out onto the back deck. Maggie was sitting on the edge of the dock, dipping her feet in the water. Glen handed her a beer and opened one for himself, then kicked off his shoes and joined her. Daryl noticed that nerdy looking guy from Woodbury was also here. He was at least dressed in normal clothes now, instead of a khaki suit. If he had something going on with Hex, he was pretty much the luckiest nerd to walk the face of the earth besides Glen. And if he was thinking that he was going to try and move in on Beth, he was going to get a foot straight up his ass.

Hex came out and handed the man another drink. When she did, she leaned down and kissed him softly on the mouth. Daryl felt more relieved than he thought he should. It wasn't like he and Beth had something going on. He shoved the feelings down and went to work setting up the grill. Once he got it going, Hex took over, tossing in more charcoal and lots of good smelling wood chips. Daryl sat down in a deck chair and pulled out one of the joints he had brought.

Lighting up a joint randomly whenever he had the urge still felt a little weird. But he had come to see that it was considered completely acceptable behavior around this camp. He had even seen old ladies and kids that he thought were a little too young smoking openly. Hex came over and plucked the joint from his hand, taking a long drag and then getting a good sniff on it.

"You get this from the bachelor boys?," she asked. Daryl nodded, wondering if he had done something wrong. She handed the joint back and blew out a large cloud of smoke. "Its some new hybrid Tommy and Angel have been playing around with, make sure to tell Tommy later how you liked it. I think they were trying to make it taste like lemons or something." Daryl smiled. He forgot everyone in this place was a weed connoisseur. Katie had ten different glass jars on top of her fridge full of weed and they were even labelled. He had made the mistake of going in her bathroom, looking for towels. She and his brother were in the bathtub smoking away, water swirling up to their armpits. Katie had just given him a little smile and a wave, like it was the most normal thing ever that he had charged into her bathroom without knocking.

Since he had a joint lit, everyone pulled their chairs up and passed it around. Even Beth came down and had a little. When they were done, she sat down on the dock with Glen and Maggie to dip her feet in the water. The two sisters started giggling together. Daryl got up and helped Hex with the grill. The steaks looked so good, he was tempted to take a bite without even cooking his first.

"I usually smoke the back pain stuff," Hex admitted with a giggle, "this lemon crap is giving me the serious munchies." Daryl laughed at her. He was glad it wasn't just him. He had to wipe his mouth once she started cooking, because he was literally drooling. Milton and Beth went inside and came back out with plates and glasses, plus the wine and a big bowl of salad. She got a few little containers out of the big cooler they brought. One was dressing, which she dumped over the salad before tossing it around, and the other looked like some kind of soft crumbled cheese. Hex scooped the morel mushrooms off the grill and chopped them up, then tossed them on top of the bowl. Glen had the wine open and he was filling glasses up for everyone.

"Would it be bad manners if we start eating this now instead of waiting on the steaks?," Beth asked.

"Hell no," Hex told her. Maggie laughed and sat down at the table next to Glen.

"Should we have a toast?," Glen asked.

"Go for it man," Daryl told him. Just make it a short one, he thought to himself. Glen held up his glass, his other hand wrapped around Maggie's.

"To good friends and good food," he called out. There was some cheering and glass clinking. Then they all swigged back a little wine. Beth stood up and started scooping out the salad. Hex polished hers off in record time and ran back to the grill to flip the steaks over.

After a large meal, they sat around on the dock, watching the sun go down and polishing off the other bottle of red wine. Daryl wasn't usually a fan of wine, but he found he didn't mind the taste of whatever kind he was drinking. The girls grew grapes here, and made the wine themselves, which made it more appealing to drink. And it was giving him a milder buzz, not the crazy one he got when he drank liquor. Maggie and Glen were the first to disappear inside the house and not come out. Hex and Milton were close behind them. Daryl found himself alone on the dock with Beth again, watching the sun go down.

Beth was quiet for a while but then she sat up. Using her hand to shade her eyes from the setting sun, she peered across the lake. Then she waved and started laughing.

"Whatcha see?," Daryl asked her. He put his hand over his eyes, trying to get a look.

"Katie and your brother skinny dipping," she said with another giggle. Then she added, "your brother has one big white ass." Beth's eyes flew open, and her hand went over her mouth like she couldn"t believe she had just said that out loud. Now Daryl was laughing. Hearing Beth make a comment about his brother's ass was just too much. He laughed until his sides ached.

"I think today is my first and last time smoking pot," Beth announced. She felt like she had lost her brain to mouth filter. Next she was going to be telling Daryl how hot he looked in the clean white tshirt he had on. In her opinion, which she intended to keep to herself, it was an absolute miracle what a little soap and water had done for the man. Daryl pulled the other joint out of his pocket.

"Might as well make it count then," he told her.


	19. Chapter 19

The pounding on the door woke her up. And it scared her. No one would be at the cabin bothering her unless something was really wrong. Katie grabbed a pillow and held in front of her before she ran for the door and opened it.

"What's wrong," she asked as soon as she got the door open and saw her sister standing there. She was not due to come back until later in the afternoon today. If Mandy was here, some shit was going down.

"Trouble at the gate, we need you down there now," Mandy told her. Seeing it was her sister, Katie tossed the pillow and grabbed for her clothes, pulling them on as quickly as she could.

"What in the hell is goin"on," Merle asked her, rubbing at his face. She strapped her knife to her belt and slung her rifle over her shoulder.

"Don't know but I think the vacation might be over," she said. She leaned down and gave him a quick kiss, "sorry." Then she was gone, the door slamming shut behind her. Once they were in Mandy's cart, heading back towards the inner wall, Mandy filled her in on what was happening.

A large group of people was at the main gate. They were demanding to be let in. And they had an injured child with them. Once in a while they got a small group of just a few people at the gate. If it was a family group, they would be invited to stay. But this group was large and mostly men. Bad men.

"Are Momma D and Roberta up there?," Katie asked. Mandy nodded, pressing the pedal on the little cart all the way to the floor and wishing the stupid thing would go faster.

"They were heading that way when I came to get you." Katie leaped out and opened the gate that led them back inside the main wall, then she slammed it shut behind them and leaped back into the cart. They went through the property, and Katie started hollering at everyone she saw.

"Mount up, main gate, go to the main gate!" She saw the women were grabbing their guns or running to get them. If this group was large, it was going to take a lot of armed people to make them understand they were out gunned. Soon there were more carts pulling out and following behind them.

It felt like it took forever to get out to the main gate. When they got there, Katie saw her grandmother up on one of the platforms, talking to the men outside the gate. Katie ran over and climbed up next to her.

"Women and children only are allowed inside this gate," Momma D was telling them. The man who's child was injured was objecting. Katie felt Momma D's hand grip hers. This situation had to potential to get ugly in a hurry.

"You can go with him if you surrender your weapons first," Katie told the man. When it looked like he still didn't want to agree, she asked him, "do you want our help or not?" She did not like the vibe she was getting from these people. One of the men blantantly called out to another, _look at all those women!_ The man with the hurt child finally agreed. He handed his gun to another one of his group members and picked up his son. The boy looked about thirteen and had a badly injured leg. Katie could see even from where she was standing the the wound looked infected. Roberta opened the gate for him and had him set the boy down in a golf cart. Then she had the father put his hands on the hood and she patted him down. She signaled to Michonne and Cassandra, who got in the cart to take them to medical.

Now there was another problem. The group outside was going to have to wait. And fixing that boy's infected leg was going to take a while. Maybe even a few days of IV antibiotics. The women didn't want to let them in, but they didn't want them hanging around the front gate attracting zombies either.

"What if we move the extra cars we keep in that lot," Katie asked, pointing to the parking lot to her left, "and let them camp there until the boy gets fixed up?"

"I don't know," Roberta said, "I don't like it."

"We could take their weapons," Mandy offered. Katie looked at Roberta hopefully. It wasn't ideal, but she couldn't think of anything else to do. Roberta chewed at her lip for a moment and then nodded.

"Let's do this then," Katie said. She and Roberta approached the main gate. One of the other girls opened it for them. When the group saw them coming out, a man stepped forward that the girls assumed was the leader. He had an ex-military look about him. Katie stuck out her hand for him to shake. She decided the best course of action would be to speak very bluntly to him.

"We don't want to let you in," Katie said, "but we can't have you outside out gate attracting the Zs either." The man nodded. "Women and children are welcome in our camp, the men can stay inside this wall and camp provided they give up their guns."

"I ain't givin' up my guns," one man yelled.

"Then you ain't coming in here," Roberta yelled back at him. Katie watched the leader, trying to gauge his expressions.

"How do I know we will get our guns back?," the man asked. Katie noticed his eyes roaming up and down her body.

"You don't," Katie said, "all I can give you is my word." The man walked a few feet away and spoke quietly with another man.

"Would you be willing to take me to see the boy first so I know you are telling the truth about helping him?," the man asked. Katie nodded. That sounded like a reasonable request to her.

"Alright then," the man said. He handed his gun to the man he had spoken to. Then he followed Roberta and Katie inside the gate. Roberta stayed, organizing a few women to move the cars in the parking lot in case the group came in. Mandy rode in the cart with Katie and the leader. The man was still looking at Katie, and he also turned around to get a look at Mandy.

When they went through the second gate, the man turned his interest from the women to his surroundings. As soon as Katie saw the way he was looking at her camp, she knew bringing him inside the walls was a terrible idea. She got the feeling that maybe asking to see the boy had been a trick to get a look at their camp. This man didn't give one shit about that injured boy. He wanted to see their setup so he and his people could try and get the jump on them.

They pulled up outside medical and took the man inside. Hershel and Maria were working on the boy's leg. Maria was shooting antibiotics into an IV that was already in his arm, and Hershel was working on the wound on the boy's thigh. It needed to be drained and cleaned, but that was going to be painful. He was debating on giving the boy local anesthetic, or oral pain pills that would make him drowsy. He would prefer to give the local shots, but they only had a few of those. They had bottles and bottles of pain pills. To his credit the boy's father did actually seem concerned for the boy, and grateful that he was recieving medical care.

"How you holding up," the leader asked the boy.

"She gave me a shot," the boy complained, "and my leg hurts."

"A tetanus shot," Hershel told the man. Then he got a bottle of pills out of the cabinet. Katie saw the leader step sideways to try and get a look inside the cabinet. She shook her head. "Now I'm going to give you something to help with the pain, it might make you a little sleepy." He handed to boy a pill and a cup of water. The boy tossed it back, swallowing hard when the pill went down. Maria pulled a pillow off another sick bed.

"Lay back on this and try to relax," she said. Then she turned down the lights in the room and shooed everyone out. Hershel spoke to the boys father outside.

"I am going to have to clean that leg and try to draw the infection out," he said, placing his hand on the man's shoulder, "I gave him something for the pain, but it is still going to hurt. You might have to hold him down. It will be better for him if you do it. He won't be as scared." The man nodded, looking determined.

"How long is he going to need to stay here?," the leader asked. Katie clenched her hand into a fist, digging her nails into her palm.

"A few days of IV's at least, and after that he is going to need rest to heal," Hershel said.

"If you need to move on," Mandy said, "they can stay here. The rest of you can leave." Her tone said more than her words. She wanted these men out of here now.

"I got nothing but time, sweetheart," the leader told her.

"You've seen the boy," Katie said, "time for you to go." The man walked casually over to the golf cart and sat down. Katie gripped the butt of her rifle, seriously considering shooting the man where he sat. She didn't want it to come down to violence, but she wasn't sure if there was going to be another option.

Katie and Mandy drove the man back to his people. He spoke to the man he had before, and then they quickly agreed to give up their weapons and come inside. There were two women with the group, and Katie offered to take them back to camp with her. One said nothing and just looked down. The other was looking back and forth from Katie to the leader of the group.

"I can let you shower up and then bring you right back if you would be more comfortable staying with your group," Katie offered. The leader waved them off like he didn't care what they did. Those bitches were getting pretty ripe, a shower would do them both some good. Katie took the women over and put them in the cart. Mandy stayed behind this time, talking quietly with her grandmother and Roberta about setting up watch duty to keep an eye on these men.

The women were quiet. One only looked at her feet with her hands clasped in her lap. Her hair fell forward to cover it, but Katie had seen the bruises on the side of her face. She wanted to help them, but they had to want her help.

Katie thought the communal kitchen might be too much for these women, they were already jumpy. So she took them back to her house. They didn't speak to her, but seemed to respond well to direct commands. She took them inside the kitchen.

"Sit here and I will get you something to eat," she told them. The women each took a chair at the table. Katie's son heard her voice from the greenhouse and came running in. She scooped him up and kissed him on his face. Maria was at medical, so she took a peek inside the greenhouse to see who was watching him. She saw Andrea sitting at the table coloring with Maria's daughter. Katie smiled and waved at her.

'Who dat, who dat?," Bash asked, pointing to the women at the table. One of them looked up and gave a soft smile when she saw the boy. It was the first real expression Katie had seen from either one of them.

"Why don't you go back and play with Angie and Andrea," Katie suggested, "and I will bring you a cookie in a minute." Her son wiggled down out of her arms and took off. Katie went into the kitchen and opened up the fridge, taking out the things she needed to make sandwiches for the women. She got them each a big glass of cold milk. After she set the food in front of them, the women stared at it like they were afraid to eat it. But hunger quickly won out and they started digging in. The door opened and closed with a bang.

"Katie!," Merle hollered, "what the hell is going on?" One of the women jumped out of her chair, knocking her glass of milk over. She looked at the mess and started to shake.

"Sorry, I'm so sorry," she said. Katie grabbed a towel from the kitchen and mopped up the mess.

"It's alright," Katie assured her, "its just a little milk. I have more in the fridge." She had to take hold of the woman and help her back into her chair. Then she got her another glass of milk Merle kept back, taking a look at the women. They were filthy. And one of them had bruises all over the side of her face. He walked into the kitchen and leaned against the counter.

"Want to tell me what the fuck is going on?," he asked her. He had not liked her taking off on him without an explanation. She spoke quietly.

"A big group showed up outside the main gate. They had a hurt kid with them. We took their guns and let them inside the outer wall. Roberta is watching them." She gestured towards the women, "I offered to let them come take a shower."

"Someone's been working them over," Merle said. Katie nodded.

"I know."

"How many in their group?," he asked.

"Twenty five or thirty."

"I am going down there," Merle informed her. He expected an objection. But Katie looked scared. And she didn't scare easy.

"Take Tom and Rich with you." He nodded and headed back out the door. Katie noticed the women followed him with their eyes and cringed when he got close. Katie moved slowly so she wouldn't spook them. She took a seat at the table.

"One of you want to tell me what's going on?," she asked the women. She tried to keep her tone gentle. The women both looked down at the table.

"What happened to your face?," she asked the woman across from her.

"I fell," the woman said in a voice that was just above a whisper.

"Into someone's fist?," Katie asked her. The woman just looked down. Someone had threatened these women within an inch of their lives. It was going to take some convincing to make them feel safe enough to open up. She started off telling them about the center, and how they had been taking in battered women for years before the turn. Neither of them said anything, but Katie could tell they were listening to her.

"If you don't want to go back there," Katie told them, "you don't have to. We can keep you safe here."

"No one can keep me safe," the woman with the bruises said.

"We can," Katie assured her.

"He will kill you if you try," the woman said. Her eyes flicked up at Katie's face, finally showing some signs of life inside her.

"Who?"

"The man you took to your medical center," the woman said, her voice shaking with fear, "the leader of the group. My husband John."


	20. Chapter 20

The sun was shining brightly through the windows when Beth woke up. She was groggy and her mouth felt as dry as an old bone. When she tried to roll over, there was a heavy weight on top of her. At first she thought it was an extra blanket, but she she tried to shove it off she realized it was someone's arm. A hairy arm that clearly belonged to a man. She racked her brain, trying to remember how she had ended up in this position. The last thing she remembered was eating dinner.

Wiggling out from under the arm, she sat up and tried to get a look at her current bed companion. All she could see was a mass of messy dark blonde hair. Slowly, she reached over and brushed it away from the man's face, shocked to see that it was Daryl sleeping next to her. Had something happened between them? She hoped she would remember something like that. Beth looked down. She was still fully dressed. The only thing she was missing was her shoes. And when she pulled the blanket back, she saw that Daryl still had on all his clothes as well. Beth relaxed. There were only three rooms at this cabin, and the other two were occupied. She and Daryl must have just fallen asleep in here together last night.

There was a bottle of water on the nightstand. Beth leaned over Daryl, snatching it up and gulping what was left down in a few swigs. Then she felt him start to stir. He moaned and rubbed his face on the pillow. Then he used the arm that was draped over her to pull her closer.

"Too early to be awake," he mumbled. Beth smiled. She was pretty sure it was late morning at the earliest. And she really needed to pee. Moving towards the edge of the bed, she tried scooting out from under his arm. But he grabbed onto her hip and pulled her back. "Where're ya goin'?" Daryl was still half alseep and he reminded her a bit of a small child that didn't want to get out of bed and go to school.

"I got to pee," she said, "lemme go." The sound of her voice woke him the rest of the way up and he rubbed at his eyes.

"Hey Beth," he said, "what are you doin' here?" She cracked a smile.

"I was hoping you could tell me that," she answered, "I have no idea what happened last night." He finally moved his arm and she got out of bed, heading for the bathroom.

"Ya still got your all clothes on, so probably nothing."

Beth wasn't sure what to think about that. What would have happened if she woke up naked. The mental image of that was more thrilling to her than she thought it should be. She liked Daryl, but she didn't need that kind of trouble. And she really didn't need him hanging around her, treating her like a helpless little baby that needed protecting.

Once she was out of the room, she heard voices and the sounds of sizzling food coming from upstairs in the kitchen. Beth went into the bathroom. She looked for the toilet, then remembered there were no indoor toilets anywhere at this camp. She splashed some cold water on her face and rinsed her mouth out again. Then she opened the door to head outside to the outhouse and ran into Daryl.

"Where's the fire?," he asked her, giving her a little half smile that she found irresistable.

"Outside," she said, "I always forget about the outdoor toilets." Daryl nodded and went into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. Beth ran outside and relieved herself before coming back in through the downstairs door. Daryl was still in the bathroom and she felt uncertain of what to do. She wasn't sure if she should wait for Daryl, or go upstairs without him. Deciding on the latter, she headed up. Maggie gave her a big good morning smile. Glen and Milton were at the stove cooking breakfast. Hex and Maggie were sitting at the table, sipping hot tea. Everyone had a slow morning wishing they were still in bed vibe about them. It was nice to be able to have a lazy day. Beth poured herself a mug and sat down. She wasn't sure what kind it was, but even just the smell of it made her feel better.

"Sleep well?," Maggie asked. The way she looked at Beth said it all. Her real question was, I know you slept in bed with Daryl and did you have sex with him last night. Hex was not so subtle.

"How was the dismount?," she asked Beth. Glen almost choked on whatever he was sampling from the stove and then he started laughing. Was that how girls talked when no guys were around?

"Nothing happened," Beth told them, sipping her tea carefully so she wouldn't burn her mouth. Hex looked disappointed, but Maggie looked relieved. Daryl came into the kitchen, noticing that whatever conversation was going on came to an abrupt stop. He poured himself a mug of whatever the girls were drinking and sniffed at it. It wasn't coffee. But it didn't smell half bad. Daryl heard someone come in though the door of the cabin. A girl he had seen around a few times, but not someone that he had met yet walked into the kitchen with an air of urgency. She spoke to Hex.

"Mama D wants everyone back inside the main wall," the girl told her.

"What's going on?," Hex asked.

"I'm not totally sure, but I saw a kid and a man I didn't recognize being taken to medical," she said. Hex nodded. She turned to Milton and Glen.

"We are going to have to take that to go."

Carol adjusted the heat on the portable stove. She was out on the large patio near the main house, helping some of the other women can homemade chicken bone broth. Nothing went to waste in this camp, even things that they had thrown away back at the prison, like leftover bones and vegetable scraps, were slow cooked to make broth and then drained and composted to make fertilizer for the gardens. She didn't talk much to the other women here, preffering to observe them quietly. And no one pressed her to say more than she wanted to.

When those girls showed up at the prison, Carol had not wanted to go with them. She had been sure that it was some kind of trick. Even after they got here, she had been skeptical. But she knew now that she had been wrong. This was a good place. She still didn't like the women here hanging all over the men from her group, but it was hard to keep getting mad about that. It wasn't like any of them were being forced against their wills to act like pussy hungry fools.

Carol had seen a golf cart drive through towards the medical treatment area. She didn't recognize the boy or the man on the cart, but that didn't mean much. A lot of people lived at this camp and she had not even come close to meeting them all yet. But then another cart came through, and Carol knew she had not seen the man in that one before. He looked dirty, like he had come in off the road.

Over the last hour, she had seen more and more women run into the main house and leave armed, heading down the main driveway towards the front gate. There was no question in her mind that something was going on down there. Carol went on with her work, and her careful observations. She saw Katie fly through on another cart, two women were with her this time. They looked scared. And dirty. About a half hour later, she was pulling up near the main house with them and ushering them inside. Then people started showing up and going into the large living room there. The people were the ones that Carol considered the heavy hitters around here. Katie and the other run team girls, Momma D, that big guy with the bright red hair and Rich, the man with the tan skin and silver hair.

Rich smiled at Carol as he went in. Carol had been trying to avoid him, but it had been getting harder and harder. He repeatedly kept trying to engage her in conversation. She couldn't figure out what he wanted and so she didn't trust him. There was no way he could have any romantic interest in her, not with this many young attractive single women around. He was about her age, but he was handsome and had a hard muscular body from all the work he did around the camp. There was no way he would be interested in someone like her.

Carol walked inside the house. She knew there was some kind of meeting going on inside. But no one said that it was private. She poured herself a glass of iced tea and sat down at the table in the kitchen where she would be able to hear everything that was going on in the large family room.

Everyone was talking at once, and most of them were shouting. Momma D whacked her hand on the table a few times to try and shut them up but it wasn't working. Finally Tom stood up and yelled, booming out over the chaos and arguing.

"Everyone sit down and shut the hell up," he hollered. The roar wound down to a steady hum and most people found a chair.

"We are not going to figure anything out with everyone shouting at once," Momma D said. There were some nods of approval. "We need to figure out what to do about the men camping near our front gate." She turned towards Katie. "Tell them what you told me," she said to her grand daughter.

"When I brought the leader of the group in to see the boy in medical...," she started.

"You brought one of them in here?," Rick asked, rudely interrupting her. Katie did not care for being interrupted when she was saying something important, and she did not care for his tone either. Mandy was up on her feet before Katie was. She walked over to Rick.

"What are you even doing in here?," she asked him, "you are not family. And you are not part of the leaders council." And he was rude. She pointed to the door. "Get out." Rick looked around to see if anyone was going to object to him being thrown out of this meeting. Roberta gave him an apologetic shrug. If he had kept his mouth shut and waited for his turn to speak, they would have let him stay. But he was not in charge here, and none of these women were going to stand for being treated disrespectfully. When it didn't look like he was going to go, Momma D spoke up.

"Can you show yourself out, or do you need an escort?," she asked him, giving Tom a look. Rick threw up his hands and stormed out the patio door. Once she heard the door slam, Katie started talking again.

"When I brought that man in to see the kid in medical, he was looking around at everything. He even tried to get a look at what was in the medicine cabinet in the medical bay. They are going to try and jump us. No way are they just going to pack up and leave once that boy is better." Katie pointed to the two women she had sat down on the couch next to Momma D. "Plus these two women don't want to go back to that group. And that is going to cause a problem right away since Sam here is that man's wife." There were a few gasps. The woman looked down. She spoke quietly.

"Maybe I should just go back, I don't want to get any of you hurt over me," she said. The other woman put her arm around her. They both looked skinny and sad and scared.

"Like hell!," Roberta said. She walked over to the woman and put her hand gently under the woman's chin, tilting her face up so she was sitting tall and proud. "You are one of us now and no one is ever going to make you do anything you don't want to do again." The woman looked in Roberta's face. When she saw the woman meant what she said, tears of relief started flowing down her cheeks.

"What are we doing about the guy with the hurt kid?," Mandy asked.

"Did he ever hurt either of you?," Roberta asked the women. They both shook their heads. Roberta turned to Cassandra. "Go get him." Cassandra nodded and headed for the door.

"That man and his son can stay, but the rest of them are going to have to go," Momma D said.

"They aren't going to go willingly...," Katie was starting to say. But for the second time she was interrupted. This time it was by gunshots that were coming from the front gate.

Daryl was heading up from Katie's house. Andrea had told him there was some kind of meeting going on at the main house and he better get up there. He was walking up the main drive when he heard the sound of gunshots coming from somewhere near the main gate. That in itself was not disturbing. Everyone here carried guns. And it was possible someone was just hunting or shooting at a big herd of walkers. But then he saw them, the girls came flooding out of the main house, running for the trucks and carts. Addy was flinging the gate open so they could get through. Daryl started to run. He swung one leg over his bike and burned rubber swinging it around to go after them.

He stopped at the gate long enough for Addy to jump on behind him. She filled him on on what was going on without him having to ask, griping him tightly around the middle.

"A group showed up at the gate, all men, they must have tried something," she said. Pulling her extra handgun out of the back of her pants, she leaned back enough that she could shove it in the back of Daryl's pants.

"Thanks," he told her. As soon as he got close enough to see what was going on, he knew it was bad news. There were a bunch of men lying dead on the ground. And the few that were left alive were having a stand off with the girls. One of them had gotten ahold of his brother somehow and Katie was freaking the fuck out.

"LET HIM GO, LET HIM GO RIGHT FUCKING NOW!," she was screaming at the man.

"I am taking him with us, once we are out of range, I will let him go," the man tried to tell her. But she was way beyond the point of listening to any of that.

"LET GO OF HIM RIGHT NOW!," she screamed. Her face was red and she had her rifle up, looking down the barrel. And she was edging closer to the man. The man started trying to say something else, but she just raged at him. "LET HIM GO OR I AM GOING TO BLOW YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF!" Her hair was mussed up in wild tangles around her head and she was breathing hard. Daryl and Addy pulled up near the gate. There were two other men behind the man that was holding onto Merle. But their attention was mostly focused on Katie and her raging hellcat anger.

The men were surrounded. They were outnumbered, outgunned and there was no way they were leaving this camp alive. But they might have enough fight left in them to take a few people out before they died. And Daryl didn't want that. He grabbed Addy's hand, pulling her with him. Keeping close to the wall, he was edging around, trying to get behind the men. Once they had both had a clear shot that wasn't going to hit Merle, he counted off to Addy with his fingers. One. Two. Three. They had their handguns up. Since they both shot at the same time, it sounded like only one gun went off. But both of the men dropped dead.

As soon as Merle heard the shot, he pushed the gun that was aiming for his head down at the ground. He twisted hard away from the man. And then he felt the wind whip by the tip of his nose. He heard the whoosh sound of the bullet, it was almost like a bee or a fly going really really fast. The man's brains blew out the back of his head. His hands dropped away from Merle and he fell down onto his knees. Then his chest exploded. Spot after spot of blood from different gunshot wounds dripped out of the man until he fell down dead on the ground. Katie dropped her rifle. It was out of bullets. Then she pulled a hangun out of the back of her pants and walked over. She aimed down and emptied the entire clip into the man's face and chest. And then there was just the hollow click as she pulled the trigger of the empty gun over and over again.

When she knelt down like she was going to start beating the dead man with her fists, her sister grabbed her and pulled her away. Daryl watched his brother. He was standing there staring at Katie with his mouth hanging open.

"Y'all never seen Katie mad before," Addy whispered to him, "don't worry her bark is worse than her bite." Daryl smiled a little before he could stop himself. He wasn't sure he had ever seen any woman in his life worked up into that much of a rage. She had looked like she was ready to rip that man limb from limb if she got close enough. Addy put her hand on Daryl's arm just for a moment before pulling it back.

"Might as well start piling up the bodies," she said, "gotta burn 'em." She walked over to the man she shot and leaned down to grab him by the pantleg. Then she started dragging him towards the small cooking fire someone had got going so the men could fix themselves something to eat.

"Check his pockets first," Daryl suggested. Addy shrugged and leaned down to pat at the man's pockets. She came up with half a pack of smokes that she handed to Daryl with another pretty smile. Roberta was walking around, putting an extra round in the heads of all the dead men.

"Only need one extra bullet, not twenty," she called mockingly over to Katie, who was sobbing into Mandy's shoulder. Katie's head popped up and she glared at the other woman. Then she started laughing through her tears. Roberta walked over and hugged her friend, their arms tight around each other. When she let go, she turned Katie around and gave her a little shove in Merle's general direction. He crossed the few steps between them she flew into his arms, hugging him so tight he could barely breath.

"Alright, everything is alright now," he told her, feeling lame and patting at her back. He was still in shock from the look of absolute terror and panic on her face when she thought something was going to happen to him. Having someone around to worry about him was something that was going to take a little getting used to. Or maybe a lot of getting used to.

Daryl let go of the body he was dragging and took the other pantleg of the one that Addy was struggling with. She smiled at him and together they dragged it over, rolling it on top of the fire. Then they went back for the man that Daryl shot. He watched Addy without making it obvious. She was strong for a girl and a good shot. He wasn't sure why he had been so deperate to avoid her. There must have been a reason, but nothing was coming to mind at the moment. And he was feeling bad for the way he treated her. It wasn't her fault that he had a habit of letting his brother talk him into doing crazy things when he got drunk and then getting mad about it later.

"I don't know about you, but I am going to need a stiff ass drink after this," Addy said. When Daryl didn't answer, she spoke more quietly. "I didn't mean that as a come on," she said, "I know you don't like me." She said it because she was afraid she was making him uncomfortable. Addy would rather be alone than making a fool of herself chasing after a man that didn't want her. Daryl could hear the pain in her voice when she said the last part. And now he felt really bad. He caught her by the arm, holding her there so she couldn't scamper away like she looked like she was thinking about doing.

"I like you just fine," he told her. She looked at him skeptically, like she wasn't sure she believed him. Maybe he was just being nice because he wanted to fuck her again. After that he would go back to being a jerk. She was telling herself to walk away. But he was so cute, and all she could look at was the way his shirt stretched across his chest.

"You want to have a drink with me later then, or what?"


	21. Chapter 21

She could smell the stink of death rising up off her own body. There was blood drying on her arms and down the front of her shirt and soot from the fire on her boots. The man who's son was in the infirmary had been delt with. With the exclusion of the two women, the rest of his group was dead. He had not seemed like he intended to cause any trouble over the unfortunate demise of his former comrades, but Roberta assigned Michonne and Cassandra to take turns keeping an eye on him for now just in case. Now she was looking forward to a hot shower and a change of clothes.

She walked down the main strip of cabins, smiling at a few women that she saw between the cabins hanging laundry up to dry on a clothes line. Rick was on his front porch, sitting on the steps. When she saw him, she increased her pace and felt her smile broaden. But Rick did not smile back like he ususally did when he saw her. Instead he got up and went inside his house, slamming the door behind him. She rolled her eyes and continued on to her house. When she hit her front steps she stopped and pivoted on her heel.

She was going to be god damned if she was going to let a man give her attitude. Especially when she had done nothing to deserve it. His attitude had been rubbing people the wrong way since he got here. And something needed to be done about it before Katie's uncle decided he was going to be the one to do something about it. She stomped past the few cabins that separated her home from Rick's. Her hips swayed as she climbed the steps. Without bothering to knock she twisted the handle and shoved the door open. It flung open with a swoosh of air that startled Rick and made him leap up from the chair he was sitting in. Roberta stepped inside and slammed the door shut like he had a few moments before.

She scanned the interior of the cabin, noticing that he was home alone. His son was off with the other boys and his daughter was probably at the kitchen or the gardens, wherever Zara was. She didn't say anything to Rick at first, but her body language and facial expressions spoke for her. Her hand was cocked up on her hip, resting near the hilt of the large knife she always carried on her. Rick looked at her, his head tilted slightly to one side. She locked eyes with him, daring him to try her patience again with more of his bullshit attitude.

"I belonged at that meeting," he finally said. His voice was angry, but there was an undercurrent behind the anger. Under the facade, he was just a man that lost his wife, lost his importance to the people he had kept afe and alive all this time. He had lost his purpose. And Roberta knew he was the type of man that needed a purpose. He couldn't just exist.

"You interrupted that meeting," she said,. Then in a softer tone, she added, "that's why they kicked you out."

"That man should never have been allowed inside the gates," Rick insisted. Roberta guessed he didn't know the full account of the situation. And he had clearly made some assumptions. Wrong assumptions.

"I guess we should have just let that injured child die...," she said, watching his face for a reaction. Roberta had not liked letting that man inside the walls, but at the time there had been no better option.

"That's not what I meant."

"If you want to start getting respect around here, you have to be willing to give some. We made it this long, saved almost a hundred people so far. What have you done that we should suddenly give up our leadership and put you in charge?" Roberta didn't mean to sound harsh, but she felt it needed to be said. She sure in the hell wasn't going to sugar coat anything for a grown ass man that was acting like a little brat.

Rick looked at her, his mouth falling open for a moment before he snapped it shut. He had not thought about his situation in quite that way. He had mostly just been looking for anything around this camp that he felt was being done wrong and thinking about how he could do it better if he was in charge. But just because these girls did things different than he would, that didn't mean they did them wrong. He found himself racking his brain for an answer to her question. What had he done that was so amazing, so much better than what they had done?

"Nothing," he said, "I haven't done anything." He sat back down at the small wooden table. The realization of what he said hit him hard. He didn't hear her cross the room, but suddenly Roberta was behind him, touching his shoulders, moving her hands up to rub his back.

"We could use your help," she said. The pain in his blue eyes when he answered her question had hit her straight in the gut. "You have got to start working with us, not against us," she told him.

How?" He caught her hand in his, turning to look up at her.

"Right now Katie sees you as a threat, you just have to show her that you have her back," she said. Her voice sounded deep and throaty to her own ears, like it was coming out of some else's mouth. Looking down into Rick's eyes was making her forget the real reason she had come here. He really was a fine looking man. All strong jaw and cheekbones with those baby blue eyes. And the strong cords in his neck were streched taunt as he turned to look up at her. The tip of one of her fingers was brushing against one. Her thumb was tangled in the soft curls on the back of his neck.

"What about your back?," he asked.

"I already know you have my back." she said, swallowing down the saliva that her mouth seemed to be filling with. Were they talking about trust now? Or something else, she wondered. There seemed to be a unintentional double entendre to everything that was coming out of her mouth. And she just kept looking at him, losing herself in the watery blue of his eyes. She had never been with a man that had eyes that color. Whiskey golden brown, one pair so dark they were almost black, and her husband's had been a warm inviting chocolate brown, but never blue. They reminded her of the clear sparkling ocean water that she swam in on her honeymoon in jamaica.

She leaned down without planning to, pressing her lips against his in a soft kiss. Pulling back, she stood up feeling surprised at herself. The kiss had been a chaste one, but it sent little squiggles of electricity all the way down to her toes and then back up where they came to rest in a steady throb between her legs. It had been a long time since she had a first kiss. The last first kiss she had turned into a ten year marriage. And she didn't remember it feeling like that. Maybe it was the constant threat of death, making everything taste just a little sweeter, making the colors of life shine a little brighter. Or maybe it was Rick. Maybe kissing him would have felt that good no matter what kind of world they were living in.

He had been as surprised as she was at the sudden touch of her lips to his. But he recovered faster than Roberta. He got up from the chair, placing his hands gently on her waist. The last women he had been with was Lori, back when she had still been pretending she loved him and nothing was going on between her and Shane. She and Roberta could not have more opposite body types, and he found it comforting. In a pitch black room, he could touch this woman and know she was not the same one that had betrayed him.

Her skin was like the color of coffee with milk in it. When he touched the skin of her arm, he found it was even softer and smoother than it looked. Her eyes were big and dark, even darker now that her pupils were dilating with desire for him. There was nothing girlish about her. From her lips to her hips to the round curves of her ass and breasts, every part of her was full and womanly. He was used to being with a woman his height, but not to being with a woman that had so much more for him to fill his hands up with.

He moved his hands down to her hips and leaned in to feel the hot press of her lips on his again. This time he pushed the kiss further, running the tip of his tounge over her lips. Her hands came up, fingers tracing up the full length of his arms. She felt his shoulders, one of the parts of a man that she found the sexiest. Then her hands twined up into the soft curls on the back of his neck, touching and stroking his hair more bravely now than she had when she had rubbed his shoulders while he sat at the table.

His hands ran over her hips, wrapping around her waist to pull her close. Her breasts pressed into his chest as her lips parted to recieve his eager searching tounge. This was not a first kiss anymore. Now it was a lover's kiss, the kind that led to something more than a kiss. Rick turned, walking backwards towards his bedroom and pulling her along with him, when he heard the loud footsteps on the porch outside. Only one person in this house took the steps two at a time and landed crashing down on the porch with a bang before shoving the door open. His son.

"Hey dad!," Carl shouted as he flung the door open, "guess where I'm going!?"

Even if this wasn't what family dinners had been like at his home, Hershel was still looking forward to eating with what was now his new extended family. Before the turn he would have felt guilty, not only for moving on so fast after his wife's tragic demise, but also for sleeping with a women so soon and before they were married. But the end of the world had altered his perception. When you found yourself even a small bit of happiness now, you had to grab hold of it fast before it fluttered away like some small bird that was too fragile to be real.

Hershel wasn't sure how many people were turning up for this dinner, but so far it was looking like a large and rather rowdy crowd. He was sitting out on the porch with Tom, who he supposed was now his future son in law, now that he had asked Momma D, or Dolly as he called her, to marry him. Hershel was sipping a nice cold glass of iced tea, and the other man was knocking back a bottle of homemade beer. Tom's son was down on the well trampled lawn, playing a game of soccer with Katie's brothers, Carl and Lexi. Hershel smiled when he saw Carl show up, holding hands with Mandy's pretty daughter, who was about his age or maybe just a little bit older.

A golf cart pulled onto the grass near one of the side gardens. Katie got out, setting her small son down onto the ground so he could scamper over to try and play with the bigger kids. One of his uncles, Hershel didn't know the twins well enough to tell them apart yet, lifted the small boy up and swung him onto his back. Then he ran back into the game, the small boy on his back squealing with joy and excitement.

"Gannon!," Katie hollered, "you be careful with him!" Her words were stern, but her tone was playful. Maria's dark haired daughter climbed down from the back of the cart, looking towards the rough and loud group of teenagers with trepidation. She stayed near Katie's leg, clinging to the woman's hand. Lexi spotted her and ran to scoop the smaller girl up, drawing her into the game and warning the big boys to watch out for her. Hershel smiled again. He had been observing these people for some time, and he had noticed one thing was very consistent. They all treated each other with kindness and respect, and the children here were doted upon with a lot of special attention. Children here were looked at as a special blessing, not as a burden. He couldn't help but wonder the same thing he had been thinking over and over again since he arrived here; was this the way things would be everywhere if women were in control?

Merle got out of the cart and followed Katie around to the back of it and pulling out a few covered dishes. They headed up the porch steps and Katie set two foil wrapped plates down on the table in front of Hershel and her uncle. Then she moved quickly to open the sliding door for Merle, who looked like he was carrying something hot wrapped in a towel. She walked back over and leaned down to kiss her uncle on the cheek. Her hair fell forward, revealing a line of soft purple and red hickeys extending down the side of her neck and under the line of her blouse. Hershel could only guess how many of them she had under her clothes. And when she bent down to kiss Tom, she was close enough that Hershel noticed how good she smelled. Like soap and oranges with a hint of whatever she had been cooking for dinner. She looked so much like her grandmother, Hershel couldn't help but find the much younger woman attractive and he considered Daryl's brother to be a very lucky man. She leaned over the table, pulling the foil back from the two plates.

"Keep an eye on these," she told her uncle, "they are for the adults only." Hershel got a strong whiff of dark chocolate that made his mouth start to water. Under the foil was a large pile of brownies that were already cut into tiny squares. "I made cookies for the kids," she added. Tom did not hesitate, he grabbed for a brownie and shoved the whole thing in his mouth, then reached for another one.

"And don't eat them all," Katie warned him with a laugh and ruffle of his fiery orange hair. One of her brothers came running over to the porch, a big smile on his face.

"Did you make brownies?," he asked, his excitement evident. She pointed her finger at him.

"I did, and only one a piece for y'all until after dinner." Tom grabbed another brownie for himself and shoved one at Hershel before all the teenagers tromped up onto the porch to snatch one up and take off back down the stairs with them. Hershel looked at the small treat, smelling it suspiciously. Katie said they were only for the adults, so he wasn't sure if that meant there was something inside them that he didn't want to consume. If they had been flavored with alcohol, the actual liquor would have cooked off while they were baking, leaving only the flavor. Katie had already taken off back inside the house, so she was not there for Hershel to ask. He looked at the man next to him. Tom had consumed three brownies already and he was still alive, so Hershel shrugged and took a bite.

"Katie!," Tom leaned back and hollered towards the open kitchen window, "bring me a glass of milk!"

"Your legs ain't broke, get it yourself," Katie yelled from inside.

"Can't get up, I'm watching the brownies," he yelled back. Some feminine laughter drifted out of the kitchen window, and a few moments later Merle appeared with two glasses in his hand, one was full of iced tea and the other was full of milk. He handed the latter to the big man before he sat down. Tom thanked him emphatically and slurped at the glass of cold milk. Hershel stuffed the rest of the brownie into his mouth, licking at the chocolate crumbs that clung to the tips of his fingers. Once he stopped drinking, he had developed a real taste for sweets, and they were the one thing he really found himself craving once the world went to hell and normal everyday items became luxuries.

What the heck, he thought, you only live once. He reached over and snagged another one of the small chocolate squares, popping it in his mouth before he could change his mind. He noticed Merle was watching him with a curious look on his face.

"Ya know what's in those, dontcha?," Merle asked him.

"Double chocolate?," Hershel replied, taking an offered sip out of Tom's large glass of milk. Merle started to laugh, and then Tom caught on to what was going on and really started laughing. His laugh was loud and deep, what many people would refer to as a belly laugh.

"Ya smoke weed ?," Tom asked Hershel once his fit of laughter was under control. Hershel felt puzzled. What did smoking weed have to do with him eating brownies before dinner? Hershel shook his head.

"Not since college," he informed the man. That brought another round of laughter from the two men next to him. "Would one of you care to tell me what is going on?" Merle pointed to the brownies.

"Those are full of pot butter," Merle finally informed him, "you gone be high off yer ass in a few minutes." Now it was Hershel's turn to laugh. He should have known. All day long the people around this camp were smoking pot, it made since that they might be ingesting the drug in other ways. Well, Hershel thought, whats done is done, a few pot brownies weren't likely to kill him. He shrugged.

"You only live once."

One drink turned into two drinks. And the two drinks had turned into three. And after the third, taking the bottle upstairs and drinking it in Katie's giant bathtub had sounded like a perfectly reasonable idea. Now Daryl was up to his neck in hot water, leaning back against the side of the tub with his head resting on a towel and Addy leaning back on his bare chest with the crazy braids and twists in her hair bound up on top of her head so they wouldn't get wet.

She had one hand out of the water to keep it dry and that's the one she was using it to hold the joint they were passing back and forth between them. Once it was about halfway gone, Addy snubbed it out in the large seashell that was sitting on the egde of the tub for that purpose. There was a bit of sand in the shell and Daryl felt himself staring at it like it was the most interesting thing he had ever seen, one small curl of smoke drifting up from the end of the joint that had been lit. Addy broke his concentration when she picked up the little half pint jelly jar she was using as a drinking glass and sipped at the liquid inside it. Daryl grabbed the bottle to fill it back up for her, but she waved it away.

"Any more and I will drown in this tub," she said. She felt Daryl's chest move under her back as he laughed at her joke. She arched her back, leaning back and turning her head to plant a gentle kiss on the side of his smiling mouth. When she did this, the tops of her breasts lifted up out of the water revealing her soft pink nipples just for a moment before they sunk back below the line of the water.

She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, both her hands sinking down into the water and resting on the outsides of his thighs. She had soft round cheeks, one of them was touching the coarse hairs that he had on his chin. He wondered if his hair was tickling her. Her lips were only inches from his and they were slightly parted. He stared at them the way he had stared at the ashtray, tracing the soft pink lines of them with his eyes and looking at how full her bottom lip was in comparison to the top lip. It crossed his mind then that he could kiss her lips if he wanted to. She had been more than willing to get naked in the tub with him, so he was sure she wouldn't mind being kissed. He could ever touch her if he wanted to, maybe stroke her soft pink nipples and feel them go hard under his touch.

Moving slowly, Daryl raised his hand up out of the water, running his thumb lightly across her lips and feeling the soft texture of the skin there. Her eyes ficked open for a moment, cornflower blue and rimmed in short dark lashes. When he tilted his head to kiss her, she shut them again. Her lips were soft and warm, and when he pushed between them with his tounge she parted them without hesitation. He deepened the kiss and moved his hands down to cup her breasts, which were floating round and buoyant in the warm water.

Addy could feel the hard length of him now, pressing into the small of her back. She would have liked nothing more than to turn in the tub, one leg on either side of him, and use her hand to guide him inside her. But she was nervous. She feared she had come on too strong the last time and scared him off. This time she was determined to follow Daryl's lead and let him go at the pace he was comfortable. Or at least she was going to try. It felt like absolute agony, but she was going to try. Her original plan had been to get him worked up and then leave, maybe make him spend a few days thinking about her. But she knew now that plan had been flawed from the start. As soon as she sunk into the tub with him she knew she was going to let him have her any way he wanted.

Daryl ran his hand over her nipples, the texture of the skin changing as he touched her. She moaned into his mouth, her tounge tangling with his, and she was gripping his forearms with her hands like she was trying to restrain herself. Her body felt like a tightly coiled spring, her feet braced against the side of the tub with her toes peeking out from under the water, showing the chipped gold polish she had painted them with the week before.

Her toes wiggled and and her feet flexed as she rubbed her thighs together under the water. The more he touched her, the more intense the throbbing between her legs got. She could feel the hard muscles of his chest against her back and the calloused skin on his palms touching the much softer skin of her breasts. He moved down with one of his hands, stoking over the flat plane of her stomach until his fingers met the soft patch of hair above her opening. Her legs fell open, hips thrusting up towards his hand.

She broke away from his kiss, leaning her head back and gasping for air. When she felt his hand slide lower, slipping one thick finger inside her slick folds she arched up, feeling her orgasm wash over her in delicious spasms. Every muscle in her body released it's tension. He drew his hand away.

"You alright?" She giggled a little, feeling the embarassment that was usually reserved for men.

"Sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to." He was just so hot. Even now, with his eyebrows bunched together, looking at her like she was crazy, he was still dead sexy.

"Didn't mean ta what?"

"Didn't mean to come so fast," she explained.

"Oooh...," he said, the relief flooding over his face, "thought I mighta hurt ya." She giggled again and shook her head. Then she turned so she was facing him. She patted at the edge of the tub.

"Sit up here for a minute," she told him, not caring anymore if he didn't like her being so direct about what she wanted.

"Why?" He used his arms to lift himself up out of the water as he asked her the question. She leaned forward, taking his hard in her hand and smiling up at him before moving closer to the throbbing tip of him with her mouth.

"Because it's your turn now."


	22. Chapter 22

For the third time in a row, Roberta stopped her lesson. She threw Katie a dirty look, which the other woman didn't even see. Despite the fact that it was well past late morning, Katie was sipping on a giant travel mug of coffee, leaning back against Merle and giggling. He had his one good hand inside her demin overalls, tickling at her stomach and the side of her waist. Roberta found herself wishing they would go back to sucking on each other's faces, at least when they were doing that it kept them quiet.

"If the two of you don't stop playing around, you are going to be separated," Roberta warned them, trying to keep a straight face.

"Sorry," Katie said. Then she shrieked, jumping in the air and rubbing at her behind where she had just been pinched.

"Just come over here," Roberta told her, "you can help me with the demonstration." Katie took a big gulp of her coffee before handing it off to Merle and heading into the middle of the loosely formed circle. Around the outside, it was most of the women that were new to the camp. Michonne and Beth from the prison group were there, but not standing together. Michonne was standing with Andrea. Beth was standing with Kristin and Janelle, the two girls they had picked up from Joe's group. Anna, the girl with the bum leg and another woman that Katie had not really been intoduced to yet were off to one side. Plus the women that had just come in with that group of men that had shown up demanding to be let inside the walls were there. Roberta was teaching the group women's self defense and combat training. Katie and Addy had come to help her, and they had wrangled in a few of the guys for the girls to practice on.

Katie got in the middle, stretching out her arms and getting ready. This was just play fighting, but it was still easy to pull something if you didn't stretch first. She spotted that mouthy cop hovering next to Roberta like he was in charge of the class along with her.

"Rick," Katie said, "why don't you come on over and be my partner for this." Merle noticed she had a rather devilish grin on her face. He was more than happy not to be her punching bag for whatever she was about to teach these girls. And he looked forward to whatever she was about to do to old officer friendly. One of the girls they had picked up on that run, the one those guys had chopped the hair off of, scooted closer to him. She gave him a shy smile. Katie had taken those girls on and they had been following her around like little lost puppies. He smiled back at her and she looked down at her feet, a pink blush rising up into her cheeks. He offered her a sip of the coffee he was holding but she shook her head and blushed some more.

Rick walked over, taking the spot next to Katie. She turned away from him. He was expecting her to speak to the other woman there, maybe explain what she was about to teach them. Instead he found himself being grasped firmly by the arm and hauled over Katie's shoulder. She flopped him down on the grass on his back, knocking the wind out of him. He coughed and sputtered, gasping for breath. When he looked up she was leaning over him, her golden blonde hair making a wild halo around her head.

"Oopsie," she said, "I thought you were ready." The smirk on her face said different. She had done that completely on purpose. And it looked like she thought it was pretty funny too. Then she stood up straight and addressed the small crowd.

"Once you have someone on the ground," she told the girls, like tossing Rick around had been a planned part of the lesson, "your instinct will be to run. Don't run. If there is something heavy around, like a big rock, hit them with it. If not, use your feet. Aim for the sensitive spots. The face and the groin will work, or go for the lower back." Roberta stepped forward, leaning down to help Rick up. She gave Katie another dirty look. Katie shrugged and smiled at her.

"Don't run until you are sure they won't be able to follow you," Roberta added. She noticed most of the girls were nodding now, and a lot looked much more interested. Maybe Katie's little display had not been such a bad idea. She was still going to get her ass for this later.

"Okay," Katie said. She pointed to Janelle. "Come on up," she said. Janelle walked up, feeling nervous. Then she motioned for Merle to come over. He sighed and came out, handing Katie back her coffee. "Going to practice how to get away when someone grabs you." Janelle nodded. After what happened to her, that was trick she was interested to learn. Katie looked at Merle and gestured towards the girl.

"Go on and grab her," she said. Merle stepped closer and put his hand lightly on the upper part of the girl's arm. "Be fucking serious about it, you grab me harder than that," Katie said, causing some laughter from the other girls. He shrugged. Then he moved quick, snagging the girl and wrapping his metal sleeve around her middle. He felt her stiffen up as his body pressed up flush against his.

"Okay," Katie said, "now your instinct is going to be to go stiff and fight, but what you really want to do is the opposite of that." This was a little trick she learned. And it worked like a charm in many different situations. "Pretend to faint," she told the girl. Janelle nodded. Then Merle felt her go completely limp in his arms. He thought this tactic was a load of horse shit, but now he was finding that it actually was rather hard to keep ahold of the girl now that her body was nothing but dead weight.

"Fucking hell," he swore, trying hard to keep hold of her. Now the girl was giggling like she was enjoying the game.

"Once they drop you, and they will if you go limp, then it's a good time to kick them hard in the crotch or go for their face if they lean over you," Roberta added.

The lesson went on, with the women practicing a little on each other while recieving tips from the run team women. Katie showed them how to kick their heads back and head butt someone if the person was around the same height, and Roberta showed them what to do if someone grabbed them by the hair.

Katie's head snapped up from her coffee. The yard was suddenly filled with the most god awful wailing she had ever heard. She looked around to try and find the source of the disturbance. Janelle nudged her and pointed. Katie swore and rolled her eyes. This was not what she wanted to deal with today. Or any other day for that matter.

Rich was half dragging, half carrying his extremely pregnant daughter across the lawn towards the general direction of the medical center. She was hollering, and also clawing and struggling with him to try and get away so she could run back to her house. His face was red from the exertion, and redder where she was scratched him.

"Oh holy hell," Roberta said under her breath, "Taylor must be in labor." Katie took one more sip of coffee before she started barking out orders. She sent one girl running to the medical center to let them know, and she sent two more off to find Maria and Hershel. Then she handed her coffee back to Merle before she and Addy ran over to help Rich.

"No, I want to go home," Taylor was hollering, "Let me go!" She doubled over then, holding her stomach and screaming. Katie and Addy each took her by the arm. Rich gave the girls a grateful smile.

"How long has she been in labor?," Kaite asked. He shook his head.

"Not sure, she said she was tired and stayed in bed. Then I heard her crying." He looked like he was ready to tare his own hair out.

"I'm not in labor, I don't want to have a baby," his daughter cried, "just take me home. I want to go home!" Katie kept a firm grip on her arm, since the girl was trying to jerk away from her and run back to their cabin. She took Taylor by the face with the other hand.

"You are having a baby, and you are having it at the medical center," she told her firmly. Taylor started to cry and weep for her dad to help her. He had felt so bad for his daughter after what happened to her, he had coddled her for far too long. Katie guessed part of it was because he felt guilty for not being able to stop what happened.

"Rich," Addy told him gently, "maybe it would be best if you wait at your house." Taylor was just going to carry on worse if he was there, begging him to take her home. He seemed unsure and he was looking at his daughter with tears welling up in his eyes. He was running his hands through the soft thick crop of sivler hair on his head. Katie heard the loud noise of someone clearing their throat. She looked up from the girl to see Rick standing there. Making a little snorting noise, she stared at the man. This was none of his business, and she was seriously considering giving him a piece of her mind this time. But then he walked around her and put his hand on Rich's back.

"Why don't we take a walk and maybe have a drink," he suggested to the man. Rich nodded. Katie breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thanks," she mouthed to Rick over the pregnant girl's head. Rich started off across the lawn with Rick's arm around his shoulders and Taylor really started going to town, screaming and hollering that Katie and Addy were hurting her. That he had to come back and take her home. Katie ignored the girl, thinking about how she might not be able to hear out of her left ear for a while after this. Then she and Addy hiked Taylor's arms over their shoulders and headed off to the medical center, dragging her along despite her loud protests.

"I don't want to hold it, take that horrible thing away," Taylor wailed. Depsite her refusal to do anything to help with the process, she had eventually given birth to a healthy baby boy. He had big grey eyes and a mop of thick dark hair. "They forced me, they put that thing in me! I don't want it!," she cried.

Taylor was insisting that the baby wasn't hers, and refusing to nurse it or hold it. Hershel had ahold of the small bundle for now. He was sitting next to Taylor's bed, trying to coax her into holding the baby at least once. If she looked at the baby, he thought her instincts might kick in. Maria was in the doorway, whispering with Katie.

"If my baby was due sooner, I would take it. But by the time my milk comes in, it will be too late," Maria said.

"What about Zara?," Katie asked.

"She's already got Judith to feed, that's a lot to ask...," Maria said. She knew the woman would take the baby, rather than let it starve, but she would rather not ask her if they could think of another solution.

"I got and idea," Katie said, "hold on." She went into the other room, where Rich was waiting. He had his son with him. Kristin and Janelle were waiting too. They had been living with the family, and thought of Taylor as a friend. Katie looked at all of them, her idea getting clearer in her mind.

"Taylor is refusing to hold her baby, she says it's not hers," Katie explained. Rich buried his face in his hands. From the way his daughter had been acting during her pregnancy, he wasn't surprised. She had refused to talk about the baby, she didn't want to pick names for the baby. As far as she was concerned, there was no baby. "I got an idea," Katie said. Rich picked his head up, eager to hear anything that might help. After he heard what Katie had to say, he had the first real smile on his face she had seen in a long time.

Rich walked into the room where his daughter sat in bed. She looked excited to see him, but like Katie told him, he ignored her completely and headed straight for the baby. So did his son. Hershel handed the baby over and got out of the way, taking a spot next to Katie in the doorway. He looked at her questioningly. She gave him a little smirk.

"Just watch," she whispered. Rich cradled the baby in his arms, cooing at it and kissing it.

"He is so cute," Troy said, leaning over his dad's shoulder. "Do you think I can hold him next?"

"Of course," Rich said. He got up and let Troy take the seat he was perched in. Then he carefully handed over the small baby to his son.

"He has your mother's eyes," Rich mentioned. Katie had to say, no one was going to be handing any oscars out in this room today, but it seemed to be working despite the bad acting. Taylor was sitting up in bed now, leaning in like she wanted to get a look at the baby she had been turning her head away from a few moments before.

Katie left the doorway and ushered the girls into the room. They did the same thing she had told Rich and his son to do. Ignoring Taylor, they headed straight for the baby and started fawning over it. The little fellow was cute as a button, so it wasn't much of a stretch to talk about how perfect he was. Janelle even told Taylor to shove her legs over so she could sit on the side of the bed and hold the baby, which Katie thought was a nice touch.

"I have all Bash's old baby clothes at my house," Katie offered, "I can go get them and you girls can pick out the ones you think would look cute on him." Now Taylor was sitting straight up, her mouth hanging open. Katie bit her lip to keep from smiling. She had not been totally sure that this would work, but she had been hopeful. Taylor had been through something terrible, there was no denying that. But she was also a bit of a brat. Katie had been pretty sure that there was no way she was going sit by and let some baby suck up all her attention. Especially her dad's attention.

Rich took the baby back again, sitting down to rock him back and forth gently in his arms. He could see that this was having an effect on his daughter, but he tried not to look at her. Instead he looked at his new grandson.

"What do you think we should name him?," he asked. He decided there was no time like the present to really lay it on thick. His daughter hated Harry Potter. The books, the movies, she despised them all. "Maybe we should name him Harry, like Harry Potter," he suggested. Troy caught on to the joke, a big smile on his face.

"That's a good idea dad, Harry is a great name. I think he likes it," he leaned down, cooing at the baby, "Hi Harry!"

This new insult to her was more than Taylor could stand. She looked at her dad and brother with her eyes drawn into narrow slits. She had a feeling by now that they were putting on a bit of a show, tricking her. But they were also teasing her, and she didn't like that. Not one little bit.

"No one is naming my baby but me," Taylor snapped at them, "Now give him here." Rich smiled. He got up and handed the baby to his daughter. Taking him eagerly, she held him close and stared down at his little face. Now that she was getting a better look, she guessed he was kind of cute. The baby turned, trying to nuzzle into her breast so he could eat. Maria squeezed past Katie and headed in to help her.

"He didn't do that to anyone else," Taylor said. Maria opened the girl's robe, helping her to get the baby in position so she could nurse him.

"He can smell you," Maria told her, "he knows you're his mother." Taylor looked up with a big proud smile on her face. Now that she was clutching the baby protectively in her arms, Maria thought it might be a good time to bring up what the girl had been saying before.

"If you really don't want him," Maria told the girl, "we can find someone else to take him." Taylor looked down at her baby. Then she shook her head at the woman.

"I want him."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure," Taylor said. Now that she was holding him, feeding him from her breast, the thought of giving him away made her want to cry. Katie felt Hershel's arm go around her shoulders. He kissed her lightly on the cheek.

"Good thing you did," he whispered. Katie hugged him back.

Daryl had been in the woods outside the main wall for most of the day. He had taken some of his team members out hunting to see what they could do. When they weren't too busy fucking around, most of the younger men were actually half decent shots. Katie's twin brothers were the best long distance shooters, and Tommy was close behind them. Daryl figured he would give the twins to Merle to train and maybe try to teach the rest of the kids how to bow hunt.

The problem with his plan was, none of them seemed to feel much like learning. All they wanted to do was go fishing, which was code for hang around the lake and get high. Daryl figured out quick that yelling at them did no good at all. They had already heard it all from Tommy's giant beast of a father, and Tom was a lot bigger and yelled a whole lot louder than Daryl. Daryl decided he was just going to have to think of something that would be motivating for the young men. But he just wasn't sure what yet.

Merle showed up later in the afternoon, having left to help with some kind of combat training. Judging by his attitude, Daryl guessed it had been sex with Katie and then combat training. He even had a hickey on his neck that Daryl was pretty sure had not been there earlier that morning. Merle plopped down, snagging a joint from one of Katie's brothers and taking a few puffs before handing it back. Daryl filled him in on what had happened while he was gone, and of course Merle listened like he didn't really care.

"Daryl said you could teach us how to shoot better," one of the twins said. Merle nodded.

"Was a long range sniper for the military," he boasted. Now he had the attention of both the twins.

"Roberta showed us a little, but she was a mechanic not a sniper," the other twin remarked.

"Got a run in a few days," Merle mentioned, "practice up and maybe you can go."

"Katie says we're not allowed," they both announced at the same time. Daryl smiled. It was funny when the twins said the same thing at once. And they did it a lot more than he would have imagined. He found he thought of them more like one person instead of two separate entities. Merle shrugged. He could talk to Katie, but he wasn't going to make these boys any promises. In his opinion, they were more than old enough to help out on a supply run. Katie just liked to treat them like babies. But that didn't mean he wanted to rock the boat with her.

With the afternoon mostly gone, the men finshed what they were smoking and headed back towards the inner wall. They checked the traps and reset the sprung ones as they went. Daryl sent Tommy to the kitchen with the three rabbits they got and headed home with his brother to wash up before dinner. Katie was in the kitchen, stuffing tomatoes through a grinder. She came around the counter, wrapping her arms around Merle and giving him what Daryl found to be a rather disgusting welcome home kiss. Her son was dragging a raggedy looking cat around the kitchen on a small length of rope.

The boy ran to Merle, hugging his leg. Merle allowed this for a moment before shaking the kid off. The child seemed unaffected and started tugging on Daryl's pantleg holding up the rope for Daryl to see.

"Marl give," he announced, "Kitty like." Daryl found himself smiling down at the boy. He wasn't so sure how much the cat liked what was being done to it, but Bash sure seemed to be pleased with himself. The boy yanked at the leash, dragging the cat across the tile floor towards him so he could bop it on the head. "Bash Bash," he called. Daryl was surprised when his brother leaned down to stop the boy.

"I tole ya, no hittin' that cat or I'm takin' the leash back," he reminded the boy.

"No hit," the boy repeated like a tiny parrot, "bash bash." He smacked the cat's head a few more times. Daryl watched Katie turn her back so her son wouldn't see her laughing. That was why the kid was so naughty, she was always laughing at him whenever he was bad. Merle caught him by his tiny wrist.

"No bashing either," he told the little smart ass, "pet 'im nice or I'm takin' him back to the barn."

"Nice touch," the boy declared, snatching up the cat and hugging it to his chest. The cat meowed in protest, wiggling to try and free itself from the tight grasp of the tiny evil demon. By this time, Katie had retreated back behind the counter, her face cheeks red and her hand over her mouth while she shook with silent laughter.

"That poor cat," she whispered to Daryl when he got close enough. "I knew the cat was a bad idea, but your brother was so excited about giving it to him," she said. Daryl looked at her like she was crazy. His brother, excited about a cat, she must have been mistaken. But then Daryl saw the soft look in her eyes as she watched his brother showing her small son how to pet the cat without hurting it. He found himself shaking his head. When women started looking at his brother like that, it never went well for them.

"I almost forgot," Katie said, "there's someone waiting in the greenhouse to talk to you."

"To me?," Merle asked her. People came to talk to Katie, they didn't often come to talk to him. "Who?," he asked, leaning around the doorway and trying to look in and see who it was.

"Uh, that asain guy that came in with your group," she said. His name was escaping her at the moment. Katie had not really had much interaction with him.

"Glenn?," Daryl asked. She nodded. That was his name, it had been right on the tip of her tounge.

"What the fuck does he want?," Merle asked. He had a buzz on. The last thing he wanted to deal with was that asshole. He didn't like that fucker hanging around his house and talking to Katie either. Merle was fairly sure that Katie had not been informed of the whole Maggie/Glen/Governor situation or his involvement in it, and that's the way Merle wanted things to stay. It wasn't exactly a lie, he had fully admitted that he had done plenty of things he wasn't proud of during his stay in Woodbury, but that didn't mean he wanted her to know all the details. Especially of that particular incident.

"He wants to go on that supply run," Katie said, "Roberta is taking Maggie."

"What the fuck does that have ta do with me?"

"Uh, you're the leader of the hunt team...," Katie said like that was supposed to mean something to him. She noticed Merle was giving her a blank stare. "You are in charge of what guys are going on the run." Now she saw that he was catching on. Rich must not have explained that part of the team to him. The girls often went out on recruiting trips alone. But on supply runs, they sometimes took the guys with them. And Rich had always decided which men or boys were going and helped to organize the run.

"Roberta told him he had to talk to you about it," Katie added. Daryl did not add anything, but he was listening closely. This was an interesting development. He was interested to see what his brother was going to do about Glenn.

"So if I don't want him goin', then he ain't going?," Merle confirmed. Katie nodded. She wouldn't want to be forced to take someone she didn't trust on a run. Runs were scary, and you always wanted a team that you could trust to watch your back.

"And I can take whoever I want?," he asked. Katie cocked her head. She could tell by his tone that she wasn't going to like where he was going with this. But she nodded anyway. He could take who he pleased as long as they agreed to go. "How many?"

"Berta's taking seven girls, so you could take around seven I guess." Merle did some mental math. He could take Darylina, the twins, so that was four counting him. Katie's big ass uncle might want to go, and Martinez, so that left room for one more.

"Hey," he said, "you ain't going?" Katie shook her head. The look of disapointment on his face was about the cutest thing she ever saw. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the mouth. The kiss was soft, like a little invitation. Then a horrible howl rang out through the kitchen. She let go of Merle and charged around the counter, snatching up her son and releasing his grip on the cat's tail that he was yanking mercilessly. Then she loosened the leash and let the poor beast free. The cat did not need a second invitation. It bolted from the kitchen and darted into the living room, looking for a place to hide.

"Hey!," her son hollered, "Kitty!" He turned on her with his tiny angry fists and she had to jump back to avoid being kicked and punched in her shins. "Stupid momma!," he cried. Daryl stepped in to try and help Katie and got a swift kick in the ankle for his efforts.

"Sorry," Katie told Daryl, grabbing at her son and holding him to her to try and stop him from attacking everyone in the room. She winced as he pulled at her hair, managing to yank a few pieces of it out of her head. "If you don't stop," she warned the boy, "you are going to your room." Daryl snorted. A good ass whooping was what that kid needed, smacking at his momma like that. The boy continued on with his antics until Katie headed for the stairs with him, leaving Daryl and Merle staring after her.

Merle smacked lightly at Daryl's chest to get his attention. When Daryl turned to look at him, he saw his brother had a wicked grin on his face. "Let's go talk to Glenn."


	23. Chapter 23

The stench was so strong when he pulled the cellar door open. Addy moved backward quickly, like the smell physically hit her. She covered her mouth with her hand until she got close enough to the kitchen sink that she could lurch into it. Cassandra threw the kitchen windows open, sticking her head out and filling her lungs with fresh air.

Tom pulled a hanky out of his back pocket and tied it around his face. Daryl did the same. Glen didn't have a hanky, so he pulled his shirt up to cover his nose and mouth. He got his flashlight out and turned it on, smacking at it a few times to make it work. Tom reached over and took the light, then headed down the steps ahead of the other men. He had his handgun out, pointing it where the light was shining.

"What the hell is that smell?," Glen asked, "walkers?"

"Smells more like piss and shit," Daryl commented. They had to peel a few boards off the cellar door to get it open. His guess was that someone had been locked down there. Or judging by the smell, maybe a few someones. He started down the creaky wooden steps, but he was not looking forward to what they were going to find at the bottom.

Tom felt his feet hit the hard packed dirt at the bottom of the staircase. He shined the light around. Daryl had been right about the piss and shit. In one corner, there were buckets overflowing with the stuff. Empty glass jars were scattered about with bits of old dried up food inside them.

Sarah held her sister tightly in her arms. The girl was shaking harder than she was. Her eyes were squeezed shut, but Sarah kept hers open. There were men in the cellar, but not the ones that had put her and the other women in there. The first one was maybe the biggest man she had ever seen. She held her sister tighter, feeling her own arms start to shake. If that man wanted to force her, like those other men had done, she wasn't going to be able to do anything to stop him. And it was going to hurt. A lot.

Tom heard a soft whimper come from under the staircase. He shined his light that way and that's when he saw them. He didn't count them, but of he had to guess he would say there were about a dozen women of varying ages. They were clinging together in a small bundle pressing themselves against the wall under the staircase. Some of them were praying. Others were crying and some just stared at him with blank or fearful looks on their faces. From the clothes they had left on them, which by now were mostly rags, he guessed they must have lived around here. Amish girls.

Outside there had been lots of walkers strung up on nooses dressed in Amish clothes, but all of them had been men. Roberta said she wondered what happened to their women, and Tom figured they knew the answer to that question now. The women huddled together under the stairs looked absolutely pitiful. First off they the filthiest people he had seen in a long time. Plus they were skinny and some of them were almost naked. He took a small step towards them. Most of them cringed back, and one young girl in the front let out a little shriek. He quickly moved back, backing into Daryl and Glen who had come down the steps behind him.

"Addy! Cassandra!," he called up the stairs, "I think one of you better come down here." Glen took one more look at the condition of the women in the cellar and had to turn away. He leaned against the wall and puked until there was nothing left inside him.

Fuck you Tom!," Cassandra called from upstairs, "I am not coming down there, I don't care what you found." It smelled like a thousand dirty diapers had a baby with a pile of leftover tuna down there. Sarah popped her head up. That sounded like a woman's voice. The big man yelled back and forth with the woman Sarah couldn't see. Then he approached her slowly and knelt down about a foot away. The other men with him stayed back. One was leaning against the wall like he was going to be sick again, and the other was ignoring them and picking up all the empty jars off the floor, putting them in a box.

Tom glanced over the group of women. Most of them wouldn't even look at him. There was a girl in front. It was hard to tell in the dim light and with her so dirty, but she looked like her hair was almost as red as his was. She was clinging to a smaller girl that looked like she might be related to her. The woman looked as scared as the rest of them, but at least she was making eye contact with him.

"Not going to hurt you," he said to the woman. The girl in her arms whimpered like his voice had hurt her. The woman bit her lip. Then she spoke.

"The last men that came here," she told him, "that's what they said." Tom wasn't sure what to say to that. He heard a squeak on the stairs above him and sighed in relief when he saw Addy was coming down the steps. Getting up, he put the flashlight in Addy's hands and ushered her over to the women. She stepped over Glen's growing puddle of vomit, suggesting to him that he ought to go back upstairs and outside. He gladly took her advice, taking the stairs two at a time until he disappeared into the kitchen. The loud bang of a screen door could be heard a few moments later.

Addy squatted down near the women. She held her hand out to the one that had been speaking to Tom.

"I'm Addy," she said. The woman's hand snaked out, grasing Addy's with a grip that was firmer than she expected.

"Sarah," the woman said. She let go of Addy's hand and stroked the girl in her arms. "This is Hannah."

"Hi Hannah," Addy told the girl. Then she pointed to the men behind her, "that's Tom, and Daryl." The girl had her face buried in her arms, but she peeked up just for a moment when her name was mentioned.

"How would you all like to get out of this basement?," Addy asked the woman, "get some clean clothes and wash up?"

"Is it safe?," one woman asked. Addy nodded.

"It's safe. There are more men up there, but none of them will hurt you," she assured them. She reached her hand out again for Sarah to take. But this time she didn't let go. Addy pulled her up, her little sister dragging along with her like a trailer on a truck. The woman hesitated a moment at the bottom of the stairs, but then she let Addy lead her and her sister up. She held her hand to shade her eyes from the bright light of the afternoon sun. Addy pulled them through the kitchen and out onto the back steps. She called Lexi over.

"This is Alexis," Addy explained, "she is our field medic. She is going to check you over and treat any injuries you have." Before Addy could head back inside, Sarah caught her hand. She looked up at the kind woman with her wild looking hair and strange rough looking clothes. In Sarah's eyes, the woman looked like some kind of wild angel.

"Thank you," she told her.

Roberta stepped down off the bumper of the semi. She wiped at the sweat on her forehead and stuffed the rag she was using back into her back pocket.

"Try it now," she called out. Merle leaned down, touching the wires together again. The engine stalled a few times and then finally fired up. Then he heard another engine fire up from a few yards away, which he knew must have been the one the twins were working on. Beth and Maggie were keeping watch, he when he sat up he saw they were clapping and jumping around, enthusiastic that they had got the big trucks running so fast.

Merle wasn't sure who's bright idea it was to come looking for supplies in Amish country. He had thought it was a real dumbass idea. And when all they found in the first house was a few canning jars and about a dozen dirty amish girls, he had figured it was a lost cause. But the women ended up being a wealth of information. There was a red haired one that had actually ended up being decent looking once she washed off the slime and dirt. She had taken them to the pole barn they used to store the extra stock they sold in the Amish store up the road. And that place had been a fucking gold mine. There was so much crap in there, it was never all going to fit on the bus.

Plus the animals. There were a ton of sheep, pigs and goats running around, plus a few cattle and a ton of loose chickens and ducks. Merle thought they would have to leave most of them behind, but then Roberta remembered the truck stop they had passed by on the way. One of the semi's even had a empty cattle car on the back that would be perfect for the animals. Since all the semi's took diesel, most of the tanks were still full. They would have to stay an extra day to get everything loaded up, but the trip was going to be well worth it.

The sound of the truck engines had brought some unwelcome guests. A large herd of walkers was heading their way. Merle climbed down from the truck and waved at Beth and Maggie. He pointed behind them.

"Time to go!," Roberta shouted, "Puppies and Kittens!" Merle shook his head, then boosted Roberta up into the truck and climbed in behind her. The twins climbed up into the truck they fixed and started pulling out of the lot. Merle and Roberta watched to make sure Beth and Maggie made it back to the truck they came in, then they pulled out behind the other big rig.

It took them about a half hour to make it back to the house where some of their team members were. The twins pulled in with the semi that had the animal trailer on the back, while Roberta and Merle kept going down the pole barn that they were taking most of the supplies from. Glen was pacing nervously outside. As soon as they pulled up he was practically climbing up into the truck with them.

"Where's Maggie?," he asked.

"Back at the other house," Roberta told him. When he turned back around, Merle saw the woman roll her eyes.

"This is the last time he is coming with us," she informed Merle for about the tenth time. He laughed.

"I owed him one," Merle told the woman. Roberta nodded. Rick had already given her a heads up on the whole Merle and Glen situation. She knew Merle only agreed to let Glen come because he didn't want him or Maggie blabbing to Katie about what happened to them back in Woodbury. So far both men had been behaving, but she could still feel some tension between the then. Maggie was an asset, Roberta would hate to lose her. But if they had to take Glen along every time she went out, Roberta might start leaving her back at the farm. Glen was overly concerned about Maggie's whereabouts. He wanted to stay next to her every second. And it that wasn't annoying enough, he had gotten some throw up on Roberta's boots earlier.

Merle climbed down from the cab of the truck. He followed Roberta into the pole barn where she was starting to direct people on what to put into the truck first. He picked up a large box and headed for the truck. They were losing the light and whatever they got done today meant less work tomorrow.

Daryl sat by the campfire, mopping up the last of his gravy with a bit of bread. Those girls they found in the cellar were slowly warming up to the group and a few of them had offered to cook dinner for the group. The food they made was a little bland, but it was seasoned with the right amount of hunger after a long day of work. They were staying for the night, loading the rest of the stuff up tomorrow and then heading home. He smiled a little while he picked at his teeth, finding it funny that he was already thinking of the compound as home. They had lived just as long at the prison and he had never considered that a home. The prison had just been a hole to hide in.

On the other side of the fire, Beth was sitting between Katie's twin brothers. They both looked like they were vying for her attention, but maybe the three of them were just goofing around together. They were all the same age. And with their big blue eyes and blond wavy hair, the three of them almost looked like they could be triplets instead of twins.

"Done licking that empty plate yet?," Addy asked him. She seemed to find his table manners amusing rather than digusting. He nodded and she stood up to take his plate away. She tossed it in the large tub of soapy water they were using for the dirty dishes. Instead of returning to the camp chair next to him, she stepped behind Daryl and started rubbing his shoulders. He didn't much feel like being groped at so he jerked away, shoving her back over towards her own chair.

"Hey Addy!," Tom called over, having witnessed the rather awkward scene, "I will take a backrub!" She laughed and stuck her middle finger up at him. Then she made some lame excuse about being tired and took off for the bus. Daryl felt his brother elbow him hard in the ribs.

"What thafuck is wrong with you?," Merle asked him. Daryl was really a fucking lost cause when it came to dealing with women. Turning down perfectly good pussy was just an idiot move. There was nothing wrong with that girl. Daryl liked to fuck her one day and then the next he was treating her like she had the damn clap.

"Nothin'," Daryl hissed, "I just didn't want my fuckin' back rubbed." Then he got up and stomped off towards the bus mumbling curses under his breath. He could hear Merle and Tom laughing at him from where they were sitting.

The red haired girl they had pulled out of the basement earlier was the only one that had stayed to sit by the fire with them. She was sitting next to Tom with her legs curled up under her in her chair. She had cleaned up and put on a clean amish styled dress. But her hair hung down loose around her face, instead of tied up in the tight bun that amish girls usually wore covered in a thin white hat.

"Maybe he's just shy," she offered quietly. This was met by a round of laughter by the men around the fire. She had not been trying to make a joke, and wasn't sure if they were laughing because she said something wrong. She clasped her hands and looked down into her lap. The big man next to her reached over and caught one of her hands in his. He brought it slowly up to his lips where he planted a soft little kiss on the back of it. She snatched her hand back like she hadn't liked it. But he could see a small smile playing around the corners of her mouth in the dancing light of the fire. She stared at her lap, one hand coming up to twist a lock of her long thick hair. Then her eyes flicked up, meeting his. He knew from seeing her earlier that her eyes were dark hazel, almost brown. But in the light of the slowly dying fire, they sparkled with gold.

"If your back hurts," she said so quietly that Tom could hardly hear her, "I could rub it for you."

When she saw her sister walk into her kitchen, Katie sighed. She had been avoiding Mandy on purpose. Or more accurately, avoiding the lecture she had a feeling her sister was ready to give her. And she was in the middle of pressure canning a big load of spaghetti sauce that she was not going to ba able to just take off on.

Mandy came in, her ponytail swinging as she walked. Coming around the counter into the kitchen, she leaned against the side of the counter with her hand on her hip. Katie knew her sister well and what she saw right now was not Mandy's happy face.

"What in the hell were you thinking?," she asked. Katie sighed again. This was already not going very well. Before she even answered, she got a half bottle of leftover wine out of the fridge and poured herself a glass. She tried offering Mandy a glass, to butter her up, but the woman rudely declined.

"It's not that big of a deal," Katie said. She already knew what Mandy was mad about. Merle. Mandy didn't like him. She didn't want him living here. And she thought Katie was acting like a dick crazed idiot. That's why she waited until he was gone on a run before she approached Katie with her concerns.

"I can understand if you needed to get a piece, but did you have to let him live here with you?," Mandy asked. It was more of an accusation than a question. And she didn't wait for an answer before she spoke again. "What are you going to do about Andrew?" That actually was a question.

"I don't know," Katie said, taking a large swallow of her wine. She had been trying not to think about Andrew.

"We need the trading we do with him," Mandy reminded her. His group needed the trading too, but if he got pissed, it would be easy for him to stop being so generous. Right now he only took as much as his group needed, but he gave them everything he could spare.

"I fucking know that Mandy," Katie said. She was starting to get a little annoyed with her sister. Just because Andrew's group traded with them, didn't mean he owned her. "I am the one that set up the trade route, I know how important it is."

"Well you don't fucking act like it," Mandy spit at her. "You are throwing everything away over some jerk that couldn't care less about you." Katie had been with her husband Davis since the two of them were so small they were playing in the sandbox together. They had gotten married the day after Katie's 18th birthday. Katie had never dated. She never had to experience a man that pretended to like her in order to get what he wanted. Mandy thought her sister trusted too easily. Merle had bad news written all over him and Mandy didn't want her sister getting hurt. And she especially didn't want Katie doing something stupid and screwing up their trade route. Or what she had going on with Andrew, who actually was a halfway decent guy.

"You have no idea what the hell you are talking about," Katie hollered. She could feel the anger welling up inside her. It had been a long time since she and Mandy had a fight. Since before Davis died. Before the turn. Katie pointed towards the door. "Get the fuck out of my house." Mandy crossed her arms and stood against the counter for another few moments. She could take Katie in a fight, that had been proved a number of times. But she had not come here to fight, she had only wanted to talk some sense into the woman. And that was clearly not going to happen. Mandy gave Katie one more dirty look before she shrugged and headed for the door like she had been planning on leaving anyway.


	24. Chapter 24

**** Sorry for the long delay in updating this story. I got wrapped up in writing Under My Spell, but now that I have finished up with it, I'm back. I keep trying to put line breaks in this story between the different POVs, and everytime I save the stupid program takes them out, so sorry if it reads confusing at all. As always read, enjoy and review. ****

As soon as he climbed down from the cab of the big rig truck he was driving back from the run, Merle saw Katie rushing at him like a freight train. He felt equally torn between being eager to get her up into his arms and being embarassed about the public display of affection he knew was hurtling towards him at full speed. To his absolute shock, Katie ran right by him, heading for her brothers. The twins were then fawned over as though they were small toddlers instead of almost fully grown men. Gannon shoved her away and wiped at his face, but Greg hugged her back, enjoying the attention. Since he was a baby, he had always been the more snugglier of the two. Since the outbreak, the furthest the twins had been from the property was to Sam's club to help load supplies and that was only after Katie and Roberta took the girls over there and cleared all the dead out of the place first. Katie trusted Merle to keep an eye on them, but she had still been sick with worry the entire time her brothers had been gone.

Daryl tried to turn his laugh into a cough and did a bad job of it. His brother was good at hiding his emotions, but Daryl knew him too well. He had seen the look of excitement on Merle's face when he saw Katie rushing over. He had even stepped forward, his arms slightly open and ready to sweep her up. Then she had ignored him completely and ran for her brothers. That was when Daryl started laughing. The look on Merle's face had been priceless.

If there was one thing Merle hated more than anything else in the world, it was being laughed at. Especially by his little punk of a brother. Daryl made a half hearted effort to dart out of the way, but Merle got him first. He balled his hand up into a fist, giving Daryl a few quick rabbit punches in the upper arm and shoulder. The fucker had some hard ass arms too, it hurt his hand a little, not that he would ever admit it.

"Hey!," Addy said, shoving the older of the two brothers away from the younger, "don't damage the merchandise." Now it was Merle's turn to laugh. At his sissy ass brother who needed a little girl to protect him. He thought Daryl was going to shove Addy off him again, but instead he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a kiss on the cheek, tickling her with his facial hair. The run had gone so well, it was going to take more than a few rabbit punches from Merle to put Daryl in a bad mood.

Once she assurred herself that both her baby brothers were alive and unharmed, Katie let them alone and came bouncing over to wrap her arms around Merle's waist. She tilted her head up, pulling his down with one hand on the back of his neck and giving him a lingering kiss. He had convinced himself that he was going to enjoy having a break from her. Having a full time woman was a new experience for him. But in reality, his sleeping bag had just felt empty and cold without her warm body beside him. Sleep had been hard to come by and he had woken up both mornings reaching for Katie and coming up with an empty hand and a throbbing hard on and no where to put it.

"Thanks for bringing them back in one piece," she whispered into his ear before giving him a kiss on the side of the neck and pressing her body flush against his in a way that promised more than a kiss once they were alone. Hearing a lot of excited voices coming from the back of the second semi, Katie released the grip she had on Merle and her eyes got bigger. "Run went well, huh?" It was more of a statement than a question. When she saw two semi trucks pull in behind the bus, it was pretty obvious to her that the run had been a smashing success.

One of the semi trailers was full of animals, and a large group of women were being encouraged down out of the bus. Katie felt a bit of an embarrassed blush creep up her neck, making her cheeks turn a lovely pink. She should really make more of an effort to remember her place as one of the leaders of this community. Frightened new arrivals really needed to be dealt with before she started sucking face with Merle. Especially when Momma D was no where to be seen. Merle felt Katie give his hand one more gentle squeeze and then she was hurrying over to introduce herself to the group of amish girls that were huddled together near the bus. She was smiling at them and before long, Katie had most of them smiling and looking more relaxed. After a few more minutes of conversation, she and her giant uncle Tom were leading them away, towards the long row of cabins where most of the women would be staying.

Roberta went inside the main house and got a cold drink of water. By the time she came back outside, the group by the semis had already tripled in size. Supplies were being unpacked and carried away, and the animals were being carefully brought down out of the other trailer and led away back to the barns. Beth had ahold of the frightened little filly horse it had taken her and Lexi almost all day long to catch, and Hex was looking it over, lifting up it's skinny little horse legs to check it's hooves and giving her approval. Roberta had taken Beth on as part of the security team, but it was starting to become obvious that her talents could be put to better use elsewhere. She really had a way with animals.

Martinez passed by the women and the young horse, leading a goat along on a length of rope. He smiled over at Roberta and she lifted her hand, waving at the man. She had been as mad as a hornet at Katie's stupid boyfriend, for bringing the man out of woodbury and onto her bus without her permission. And even madder at Katie, for not doing anything about it. Before they left on the supply run, Roberta had reminded herself that none of that was really Martinez's fault, and she had decided to give him a fair chance, the same as she gave to everyone else. On the run, he had taken orders from her without a problem. The man was quick and quiet and from what she had seen he was a hardworker. He was offically removed from her shit list, along with Merle, who despite her reservations, had ended up being an asset instead of a liability.

Turning to head for the back of the trailer that was loaded with supplies, Roberta bumped smack into Morgan. Since he was halfway to crazy and injured when they picked him up, he had been staying in the medical building where someone could keep an eye on him. She had seen him a few times at the food tent during common meals, but they had not really spoken since the day he arrived. Like she had been the first moment she saw him, Roberta was struck speachless by how much he resembled her dead husband.

Morgan stepped back from her, giving her a small smile. She realized her mouth was hanging open and snapped it shut, rubbing her sweaty palms against the rough material of her snug jeans.

"Still staying at medical?," she asked him, feeling lame. He smiled wider.

"Nope," he said, "got a cabin across from Rick. Katie said she figured if I was going to go hog wild crazy and axe murder everyone, I would have done it by now." Roberta knew Morgan was repeating exactly what the woman had said to him and it made her smile. Katie had a way with words.

Roberta was searching for something to say back. Something that sounded less lame than 'that's nice'. Nothing was coming to mind except memories of her husband. The time he had taken her on a cruise that was supposed to be romatic. He booked some kind of family cruise by mistake and the entire place had been a swarm of screaming mobs of sticky fingered children. The way he looked when he smiled at her, just like smile Morgan was giving her right now. Roberta blinked her eyes a few times, feeling the world start to spin around her. Then she felt an arm go around her waist.

"You alright?," Rick asked. She nodded her head. Having him next to her was grounding. The spinning stopped and she took a few deep breaths.

"Just tired," she lied. What she was really feeling would be too hard to explain. She had gotten confused for a second and thought that Morgan was her husband back from the dead. That was crazy. And she had a feeling it would not go over well with Rick, who she liked. A lot.

"We can handle things here if you need to go home and rest," he told her. That was not really Rick's call to make, but she thought it was a sweet offer anyway. The last thing she wanted to do at the moment was be alone in her cabin, ghosts closing in around her. She shook her head.

"No," she said, "I've got it." Rick's arm was around her, his hand resting on the curve of her hip. Her shirt was an amish men's shirt she had put on and tied in the front to make it fit a little better. This left a sliver of her stomach exposed and his thumb was resting against her bare skin. His hand felt like it was radiating heat and she found herself thinking about a more recent memory. Kissing him in his cabin. She felt her mouth filling up with spit and she swallowed hard. Maybe the stuff about being tired from the road was the truth, she felt like her emotions were all over the place.

"Sure," he asked. She nodded and walked quickly away from him towards the back of the bus, leaving both him and Morgan staring after her.

Tom lingered around the cabins for as long as he could. Finally Katie chased him away, telling him she didn't need help settling the new girls in and go unload the bus. Her polite way of telling him he was annoying the fuck out of her. He walked away grumbling under his breath about being bossed around by his neice. Katie noticed a pretty girl with red hair almost as orange as Tom's clinging to the railing on the porch of the cabin, watching him go. Katie smiled. So that's what that was about. Tom had never bothered helping new people get settled in before. His sheer size alone tended to be intimidating, so he usually stayed away and let new women get used to seeing him around before he approached them. She figured he must have had something going on with one of these girls. And now she knew she was right.

"What's your name again?," Katie asked the woman.

"Sarah." The woman's voice was quiet, but she smiled warmly at Katie when she spoke. She was pretty. Not supermodel hot, but she had a nice girl next door vibe going on. Maybe once she was more comfortable, they could take her along on a bus run, Katie thought.

"I'm Tom's neice," Katie informed her. At the mention of her Uncle's name, she saw the woman's cheeks flush pink. And she looked a little relieved. On the walk over, the big man had his arm around the pretty blonde woman in a very familiar way and Sarah had been worried that the two of them had some sort of romantic involvement. She was happy to hear that they were related. Katie was not someone that she would want to compete with for a man. Before Sarah could respond, her younger sister came running back out of the cabin, hugging her around the waist.

"Get a room picked out?," Katie asked the girl. She nodded her head vigorously.

"Mine is yellow!," the girl said, "it's nice here, just like Beth said." Sarah smiled. Anything would be an improvement over being locked in a basement with her own excrement, but Hannah was right, it was nice here. Amish people did not paint their homes in bright colors. So having a yellow room was more exciting to Hannah than it would have been to an english girl.

"Made friends with Beth?," Katie asked the girl, who nodded again. Sarah smiled at the woman. She was dressed in a way that would be considered lewd and shameless by Amish standards. Her breasts were pushed up and the tops of them were hanging out of her shirt. The pants she had on were tight on her hips and butt, showing off her curves. And her hair looked dyed. But Katie was friendly, and seemed genuinely concerned for their welfare even though she didn't know them. Sarah decided she liked her.

"Uhuh," Hannah said, clinging to her sister and hiding slightly behind her.

"I bet if you asked her," Katie said, giving the girl a big smile, "after dinner, she might take you down to the stables to see the horses." The girl looked up at her sister, to see if that would be alright. Sarah nodded. Katie smiled at the girl again, then excused herself, letting Sarah know that someone would be by later to pick them up for dinner. Until then they were welcome to go anywhere inside the main wall.

Katie walked back to her house. Bash was taking a nap when she left to go down to the bus, and Maria was listening for him, but she wanted to get back before her son woke up. Maria had been having some pregnancy related swelling in her feet. Swelling that was not going to be relieved by chasing and active toddler around the house to keep him from destroying the place.

As she walked she thought about Beth. The girl was young, and still relatively new. But maybe not too new to be responsible for teaching the newer group of women the ropes around this place. Beth was good with people, a natural caregiver. And it seemed like she had already earned the trust of these new women. She seemed eager for more responsibility. At the prison, Beth had not been made to feel like a valued member of the group. It was important to Katie that she not feel the same way living here. Being a woman was not a disadvantage.

Addy grabbed a box from the top of a stack on the us and handed it down to Daryl. He almost dropped it right on his own feet. From the way Addy had been swinging he box around he had not expected it to be so heavy. He kept forgetting that she was stronger than she looked. She got another box for herself and set it on the floor of the bus before she climbed down and grabbed it. Both boxes were full of glass canning jars, so they headed for the kitchen together to drop them off.

Since everyone was down unloading the bus the large kitchen was empty. A few pots of something that smelled good were simmering on the stove and Daryl felt his stomach start to rumble. They had passed around a box of granola bars that morning before they made the drive back from Amish country but they had not stopped for lunch. Living at the prison, he had been lucky to get even one full meal a day. Since staying at Katie's place, Daryl had been stuffing his face at least three times a day, and sometimes getting up in the middle of the night to do it again. His stomach had gotten used to feeling full again.

"Hungry?," Addy asked, looking down at his stomach and giggling. Daryl nodded. "There's ususally ice cream in the big freezer." Daryl smiled and followed her towards the freezer. He knew he was a grown man that could eat what he pleased, but there was something about ice cream before dinner that felt naughty and playfully appealing. Addy got a large glass quart jar out of the freezer and set it on the counter before she went in search of a few spoons. The jar was so cold the outside of it fogged up immediately, making it hard to tell what flavor of ice cream it contained. Daryl grabbed the jar and twisted the lid off, looking inside to see what color the ice cream was.

"It's all plain vanilla," Addy said like she could tell what he was thinking. "We mix in jam or chocolate sauce to flavor it." She handed him a spoon and then dipped hers into the jar to scoop out a bite for herself. Daryl followed her example, taking a healthy sized bite and spooning it into his mouth. He closed his eyes, letting the ice cream melt in his mouth before he swallowed it. Ice cream held good memories for him. When his parents would really get going, fighting with each other, Merle walk him downtown and sometimes buy him a scoop of ice cream. He would never get any for himelf, saying he didn't like it. It wasn't until Daryl was much older when he realized his brother didn't get any for himself because he only had enough money for one scoop. And he would have to take back empty bottles just to buy that one. For Daryl.

"Never thought I would ever have ice cream again," he said. He was only thinking about it, not really meaning to say the words out loud. When he opened his eyes, Addy was smiling up at him. She had another bite that she was licking off her spoon. Her lips were pink, a shade lighter than her tounge. Her eyes were dark with desire as she looked up at him, the pupils dialated so large they turned the blue of her eyes into nothing more than a sliver ring around the expanding black iris.

They had a talk the night before last, alone on the bus while everyone else sat around the campfire or slept inside the house. Her words drifted back to him. _I don't expect anything from you Daryl, but I do like you. I can't pretend I don't._ With all the wrong things that could have come out of her mouth, that had been the right one. Daryl had been feeling better and more relaxed around her since then. He decided he liked her too. She was dead sexy swinging that bat she had. And he trusted her to watch his back, which was more than he could say for most people. That was all this had to be for now.

He closed the slight distance between them, picking up one of the twisted ropes of her hair and rubbing his thumb over a silver charm that she had twined into it. Like most of her jewelery, the charm had a butterfly on it. The symbol of transformation. She set her spoon on the couter with a metallic ting and her hands moved to his waist, resting gently on either side of his hips. He leaned down to kiss her, their lips brushing softly at first. Just a whisper of a kiss, but Daryl felt her hands twist up into the fabric of his shirt. He deepened the kiss, parting her lips with his tounge. She tasted like vanilla ice cream. His hands moved down, gripping the underside of her ass. He was getting ready to lift her up and set her on the counter when he heard the sound of someone nearby loudly clearing their throat.

Backing away from Daryl, Addy giggled as she smoothed out the wrinkles in her shirt, pulling at the hem of it with her hands. Daryl turned his back to the person, yanking at the legs on his pants to try and make it less obvious that his dick was semi erect on the way to a fully hard. When he turned, he was surprised to see Carol standing there.

"If you don't mind I am trying to check on the chili for dinner," she informed them, giving Daryl a dirty look.

"Oh, are we having chili?," Addy asked, completely unphased by Carol's attitude, "I thought something smelled good." Daryl scratched at his facial hair to hide his smile. She was taking a page from Katie's playbook. When someone was rude, she just killed them with kindness. He particularly enjoyed it when Katie used this tactic on his brother. He would get the same look on his face that was on Carol's face right now. A look of confusion and slight anger at not being able to get a rise out of the other person.

"Haven't seen you in a while," Carol said, directing her comment to Daryl. He nodded.

"Been on a run," he said. Daryl twisted the lid back onto the jar of ice cream and grabbed the spoons. Then he grabbed Addy. Whatever Carol was pissed at him about, he wasn't in the mood to deal with it at the moment, and he didn't need Addy involved in any case. "Let's take this ice cream back to my house," he suggested to her as her started pulling her towards the kitchen door.

"See you later," Addy called back to Carol, making sure she smiled at the woman as she stuck her hand in Daryl's back pants pocket. She knew that look anywhere. That woman was jealous. And while Addy didn't consider a woman twenty years older than her to be much of a threat, she figured she would make her claim known just in case.


	25. Chapter 25

**** I am now on tumblr, under the same name I use here. I have some of my inspiration pictures up, for this story and some of my others. Please feel free to check them out. As always thank you to anyone that took the time to leave a review. ****

She had not told him what she was waiting for, but Merle noticed Katie seemed more tense and less bubbly than usual. All weekend long she had been checking in with Cassandra or whoever was up at the main house sitting in that little room with all the security cameras and satellite phones. Not that she didn't check in, but she normally didn't do it five thousand times a day. Saturday night he had woken up to find her passed out in the easy chair in their room, a well worn paperback book in her lap. It wasn't like her to have insomnia, she usually fell asleep before he did and slept hard all night with her head in the crook of his shoulder or rolled over on her side with her knees tucked into the back of his and her soft breath against the base of his neck. Since whatever was making Katie tense didn't seem to have anything to do with him, Merle didn't question her. He figured she would tell him what she had to tell him when she was ready to.

In the very early morning on Tuesday, they were both woken by a loud pounding on their bedroom door. Then the door was unceremoniously flung open without waiting for a response. Addy was in the doorway, looking more awake than anyone had a right to be at such an early hour. She must have been up all night on watch. Katie sat up, shoving her hair back out of her face and wrapping it up into the tiny little nub of a ponytail that it finally fit into.

"They called!," Addy said, her voice full of excitement.

"How far out are they?," Katie asked, tossing the covers so they folded up double on top of Merle, who was rummaging in the drawer of his beside table for a smoke. Once she was up he tossed the heavy blankets back off.

"Three days out," Addy said. Katie nodded, she grabbed the pair of jeans she worn the day before off the back of her reading chair and pulled them on over the skimpy pair of bikini bottom panties she was sleeping in. She needed coffee. A big coffa cuppee before she could think straight. Preferably with a lot of sugar in it. And some milk. Followed by another cup of the same. She tired to get her thoughts together.

"Who's going?," Addy asked, trying to help her out, "I can go wake them up."

"Umm," Katie said rubbing at her face. Who in the hell was going? She should know this. Katie and Roberta already decided this last friday when Roberta came back from the run to Amish country. "Lexi, Cassandra," Katie said. Those were easy, they almost always went. Cassandra drove the bus and Lexi was the only field nurse now that Maria was in a very large could barely walk family way. And she was taking some of the new girls out. Not Maggie, Roberta said the woman's boyfriend drove her batshit crazy and didn't want her going anywhere without him. She remembered now who she was taking, she had talked to both women about it over the weekend. "Andrea and Michonne." Michonne had gone out with Roberta, but Andrea was still a virigin. This was her test run.

"No Roberta?," Addy asked. She did not ask about Mandy. Everyone knew Katie and Mandy were not on speaking terms at the moment.

"She needs a break," Katie said.

"Who's playing mechanic then?," Addy asked. Katie swore as she pulled her sleep shirt off over her head and snapped her bra on, adjusting the cups so her boobs looked even inside them. They always took someone with medical training and someone who knew engines in case something went wrong with their beast of a bus. She supposed she could take one of her brothers, but that meant both of them and she didn't want to deal with their bullshit or the smell of them. Everyone got ripe out on the road but nothing compared to the stink of an unwashed teenage boy. Plus the twins liked to piss and moan whenever she made them do anything.

"Going somewhere?," Merle asked. Katie turned and smiled at him. She had forgotten he was there.

"Trading run, the one we do every month. We were waiting for the call, from the other group we trade with," she said. She felt a little bad about not telling him before this moment what was going on. It was easy to forget Merle had not been living with her long enough to know their normal trading routines. She felt like he had been there forever and knew everything she knew.

"Why ya need a mechanic?," he asked with an excited gasp since he finally found a smoke and a working lighter. Katie was always cleaning up his things. Which meant nothing was ever in the same spot he set it down in. She was afraid her son would get ahold of one of Merle's lighters and had a bad habit of hiding them and forgetting where she put them.

"In case the bus breaks down," Addy informed him. Merle nodded. Like most of their reasons for doing things, it sounded reasonable. He opened the door to the deck and stepped partway outside before he lit his smoke and took a deep drag. Katie was bending over, yanking a backpack out from under the bed. He took a moment to appreciate the view and then made a suggestion.

"Could take little brother," he said. Daryl could fix anything with wheels and most things without. Merle saw Addy's face light up at the suggestion of taking Daryl on a run. And the thought of Daryl stuck on a bus full of women made Merle want to start laughing. Maybe they could teach him how to use a tampon. Or braid his sissy ass too long hair for him. And somewhere down deep inside it made him feel better to have Daryl watching out for Katie while she was out on the road, not that he would ever admit that to anyone. Addy watched Katie, waiting to see what she was going to say about Merle's idea. Katie shrugged.

"Go wake him up," she said. Addy took off down the hall and Katie called after her, "everyone at the bus, we leave in an hour."

"How long you goin' be gone?," Merle asked her, taking another drag from his smoke and trying not to blow in into the bedroom.

"Rest of the week at least," she said. Tossing her bag on the bed she drifted over and wrapped her arms around his waist, ignoring the smelly cig he had between his fingers. "Goin' to miss me?," she asked. She was still clad in only her bra and a pair of low waisted jeans that showed the top of the curves of her hips. Smiling up at him, she pressed against him in a way that said she was going to miss a certain part of him more than the rest while she was gone on her run. Hugging her back with his bad arm since he had a lit cigarette in the other he leaned down and gave her a soft kiss on the lips.

"Nope," he told her. She smacked at him.

"Liar!," she accused with a laugh, swatting at him some more, trying to hit him on the ass and getting his hip instead. He lifted up his bare foot and gave her a solid boot to the ass, sending her flying and flopping down onto the bed. Katie landed so hard she almost rolled right off the other side of the bed onto the floor. It was obvious Merle never had any sisters, since the dope didn't know how to play fight without practically killing her. Even now he was still laughing and she was going to have a bruised ass tomorrow.

"Asshole," she said, rubbing at her behind and returning to the task of packing her bag for the run. She made sure not to smile until her back was to Merle. The door shut behind her and then Merle's body was pressed up against hers. His arm around her waist, holding her close and his hand between them, massaging at the spot where he pushed her with his foot.

"Didn't mean to hurt ya," he informed her, nuzzling into her hair. His hand went down the back of her pants, pushing her underpants down and grabbing a handful of her tender flesh. "Can kiss it better, know you like that," he offered, one finger slipping down between her cheeks to feel the moist folds between her legs. She started to push him off, but he held her tight against him. "Ain't going to see ya for a whole week," he reminded her. His finger slid in deeper and a soft moan came out of her before she could stop herself.

Making no further protest, she unbuttoned her jeans and shoved them down, bending forward over the bed. He wasted no time, grabbing at her hips and shoving inside her from behind. The sex was fast and rough, but not unsatisfactory. With the last few pulses of her orgasm rolling over her, Katie pulled her pants back up and turned around to give him a kiss on the mouth, parting his lips with her tounge and not caring if she was being sloppy. Her husband had thought french kissing was gross, and it had taken her awhile to feel comfortable with handing out the tounge whenever she felt like it. And she felt like it a lot.

"Keep doing that and we are goin' back to bed for another round," he informed her once she pulled back for air. Katie thought about the offer and then remembered she had other things to do besides play around in bed all day with Merle. She sighed and went back to packing her bag. Extra pairs of socks and underpants. Couldn't have enough of those on the road. She dressed, layering up two tank tops and another shirt on top, all durable but still breatheable material. She got a good pair of socks on, and then her hiking boots. The weather got cold at night, near the ocean, so she pulled out an old worn brown leather jacket and tossed it on the bed near her pack. Merle picked the jacket up, looking it over. It was a men's jacket, and too long in the sleeves to be Katie's. Probably belonged to her husband. The suicide king.

"It was my Poppa's," Katie said like she could tell what he was thinking. "It's lucky," she added with a smile. Merle smiled back. She got rid of all her husband's old things shortly after he started staying with her, so he should have known the jacket belonged to someone else. Katie pulled her machete down from a high shelf and strapped it to her thigh, then stuffed a knife in her boot. The guns she was taking were downstairs in the safe. So was the rest of the crap she was packing in her bag. Food and bottled water mostly. She looked sexy geared up for the road. And Merle noticed she did not put on the necklace with her and her husband's wedding rings on it. That had disappeared shortly after his arrival as well.

Katie stood in the middle of the room, looking back and forth between her bag and the door to her son's room. She didn't want to wake him so early, or he would be a terrible bear for Momma D all day.

"Can you do me a favor?," Katie asked. Merle nodded, looking curious. Katie did favors, she didn't ask for them.

"When Bash gets up can you ask Maria to get him breakfast and take him up to the main house to my Nana? I don't want to wake him or Maria while they are still sleeping...," she asked. She wasn't sure about the favor. Merle didn't seem to mind her son, but Bash was not his responsibility. He was not the boy's father.

"I kin feed him and take him up there," he said, waving her off like it wasn't a big deal at all. He didn't mind the boy. Bash behaved a lot better when Katie wasn't around. He liked to put on a show for his momma, acting like a big baby. Katie cocked her head, looking at Merle like he was crazy.

"Are you sure?," she asked. He held in a laugh at the irony of the situation. Katie went on all damn day about how women could do anything men could do. But since he was a man, she didn't think he was capable of dumping some milk in a glass and walking a child up the driveway to his grandma's house. "He likes eggs in the morning," Katie added like cooking eggs was a major imposition.

"I know how to cook eggs," Merle assured her. Who did she think took care of Daryl? Not their drunk parents, that was for sure. By the time Daryl came along, they had been getting drunk every morning by ten o'clock. Katie was still staring at him, looking unsure. "Goddamn woman I said I kin do it," he added, trying not to laugh. That made her smile, and she hugged him again.

"Thank you," she said, her voice full of emotion. Having someone to share the load with her felt strange, but not completely unwelcome. "If you make sure Bash doesn't drive Momma D totally insane while I'm gone I can give you something special when I get back," she almost whispered, looking up at him with a devish smile. He leaned down and gave her another kiss.

Katie went into her son's room, kissing him and smoothing his soft blonde hair back from his face. She ran the back of her hand over the soft chubby curve of his chubby baby cheek, trying her hardest not to get emotional. If he was awake, that made it easier somehow. Maybe because he was always so excited to go stay with her grandmother while she was gone. If this trip went well, she reminded herself, she would not have to leave Bash again for a long time.

Daryl leaned back, putting his feet up on the seat across from him. He chewed at a hangnail on his thumb, thinking for about the hundreth time how in the hell he had managed to get roped into this. Not that he minded pitching in, or going on a run. The last one had been alright. But he had not been the only man on that run. It just felt uncomfortable, being alone with all these women. And at the first place they stopped, that fruit orchard, everyone that lived there had stared at him like he had grown a third eye in the middle of his forehead. He even saw a few people pointing and whispering. _What is that man doing with them?_

Since the moment he climbed onto the bus, Daryl had been wondering what these crazy girls were going to make him do. But so far the only thing that had had been forced upon him was a lot of bad music, some even worse singing along with the bad music, and then what he guessed was the entire disney princess collection on Lexi's MP3 player blasted through the speakers of the bus. Michonne sat in the bench across from him, and her head was resting against the window, her breathing slow and even. How in the hell she could sleep through this fucking god awful racket he had no idea, but he decided he might like to know her secret.

Addy walked up from the back of the bus, heading down the center aisle between the seats. She handed him a peach from one of the large baskets they had picked up from the orchard. Whatever trade Katie had worked out with the people that lived there must have been made ahead of time, because they had only stopped there long enough to load the fruit up and drop off one large pig that had been oinking and squealing loudly inside the large cage Katie and Addy had unceremoniously shoved it into before they left. The only thing good about the music was it drowned out the loud noises being made by the large frightened animal.

There were about ten more cages, much smaller, with chickens and roosters inside. Daryl thought those would also be given to the people at the orchard, but Katie kept them on the bus. Except for the two roosters, the chickens were quiet and only an occasional flapping noise could be heard.

Daryl thought Addy might sit down and visit a while, but she continued on her way up to the front of the bus. Cassandra was driving and Katie was sitting behind her, fiddling with the antenna on a CB radio and turning the knobs, trying to get some sort of signal. Addy reached up and hit a switch, turning off the music and leaving them in silence. Then she grabbed the radio from Katie. She wrapped some wire around the antenna, and then wrapped the other end of it around the handle of the spiked aluminum bat she used to kill walkers. She held it up, moving it around while she fiddled with the knobs on the front of the radio.

"Got this sonofabitch on the totally wrong frequency," she informed Katie, "Little Lake uses channel 21 or 23." Katie shrugged and took the handset, squeezing the little button on the side while she talked into it.

"Little Lake... Come in... This is Fox Force 5... Come in Little Lake...," she said, waiting a few moments before repeating her phrases. This continued on for about five minutes. Addy moved the bat around while Katie talked, trying to get a better signal. Finally there was some static and then a crackled up voice could be heard.

"Hot damn!," Addy yelled. She kept the bat where it was and Katie turned up the volume on the CB. They both tilted their heads close trying to make out what was being said. Daryl found himself leaning forward, interested to find out who the girls were trying to get ahold of. Addy tilted the bat to the left and the voice got clear enough to understand.

"Lieutenant Mark Hammond here... Camp Little Lake... Try again you were breaking up..."

"Fox Force Five here... Encoming... ETA 30 minutes...," Katie said, adding the part about their estimated time of arrival. A new voice came out the the CB, replacing the man that had been talking.

"Katie?," the voice said, "That you?..." Katie and Addy started laughing and Katie held down the button again.

"Hey Charlie!," she hollered into the CB, "It's me..."

"Hey girls, I was getting worried about you...," the voice said, "What's your ETA?..."

"30 minutes... "

"I will have the bridge down... see you soon... over and out..."

Katie switched the radio back off and Addy took the wire back off the end of her bat, coiling it up carefully so she could use it again. Then they both got up and headed for the back of the bus. As Cassandra drove forward, slowing down once in a while to nudge a larger herd out of their way with the V shaped plow on the front of the bus, the girls were moving things around and getting out the bags of items that Daryl knew they used for trading. Once again, he wished he had thought to bring something of his own to barter with, but he didn't really have much. He could have done some hunting, maybe brought some meat to trade.

Michonne was still asleep, but Andrea was up, and she followed the other women to the back of the bus. Daryl could hear some excited conversations going on back there, mostly about the trading. Since no one had told him he couldn't he headed back to at least listen in on what was going on.

When she saw Daryl coming, Katie motioned for him to join them. She gave him one of her prize winning smiles and scooted a little to her left to make room for him between her and Addy.

"Little Lake is the next stop," she told him. "We will stay the night there. They make antibiotics and bullets there. And Soap." She gestured to the chickens. "The birds we are trading for the bullets and the medicine." Then she pointed to the large pile of items in the middle of the loose circle the girls were in. There were a ton of items there that seemed random, but might have some value to the right person. Baggies of pot, bottles of wine and booze, batteries, herbs that Daryl guessed had medicinal uses, some food that looked like mostly candy and snack items that were getting harder to come by, plus a ton of other junk. "This is for personal trading," Katie told him.

"Where and how do they make bullets?," Daryl asked. Katie shrugged. That was not information she was privy too. Little Lake liked to keep that shit a secret and Katie didn't blame them. Not every group that came to trade was like her group. If other people found out who the bullet maker of the camp was, that person might find themselves kidnapped and on the way to serve a new camp whether they liked it or not. Daryl looked again at the pile of stuff in front of him.

"If I wanna trade, I can take some of this stuff 'ere?," he asked. Katie nodded.

"They have a real blacksmith," she said, "so you should at least get your knives sharpened." Daryl nodded. He wasn't sure if he was in need of anything, but it was nice to know if anything caught his eye, he had something to barter with. He supposed he wouldn't mind some new bolts for his bow or a new hunting knife, a bigger one to replace the one he left behind on Hershel's farm. Once she was done with him, Katie turned to Andrea and Michonne, who had crept up behind them without Daryl noticing it.

"Little Lake is a family camp, but there are a lot of single men there too," she said, "Charlie keeps them mostly in check, but no one goes anywhere alone just in case. And don't be offended if they try and offer to pay for it."

"Pay for what?," Daryl asked. Most of the girls laughed except for Michonne, who only smirked at him.

"For the pleasure of our company," Katie said, leaning her head on his shoulder and batting her eyes up at him while Addy laughed. Daryl felt the heat rush into his cheeks. He cursed himself a little for asking such a stupid question. What did he think she was talking about? Playing checkers? He put himself in the place of the men at this camp, alone with no hopes of even meeting a single woman. Then these girls show up, titties out and asses bouncing around in their tight pants. They were hot too. Even little Lexi was a looker, and she was hardly even a woman yet. He bet some of those men were willing to pay. Willing to pay a lot. What Daryl was wondering now was if any of the girls would be willing to sell.


	26. Chapter 26

**** Welcome to my new readers and thank you to anyone that took the time to leave a review. There are two companion pieces to this one called Claiming Woodbury and Made for this World. Both take place before this story begins. Claiming Woodbury is completed, the other one is a WIP. I have my inspiration pictures for this story up on tumblr under the same pen name, GillyFlower34.**

 **We know some of the girls and Daryl (poor guy) are out on a run, but for now lets see what's going on back at camp... As always read, enjoy and review. ****

Rick had been trying his hardest to run into Roberta all weekend. He didn't want to go looking for her, he wanted it to seem casual. They kissed. And it seemed like they were about to do more than kiss right before Carl came bursting in, excited about going to family dinner up at the main house. Rick meant to talk to her the next day. But then she left to go on that supply run before anything else could happen. He had not even had a chance to talk to her about it. It left him with a strange unfinished feeling, like he was in a constant state of wondering what was going on between them. When she came back from the run she had been acting strange, staring at Morgan like she was afraid of him.

Since then Rick had not seen her. He had tried hanging out on his front porch, to see if he could catch her coming or going from her cabin, but it did not seem like she had been there at all. Cassandra and Addy had been coming and going all weekend, but no sign of Roberta. By Sunday afternoon, Rick was starting to get nervous. He was thinking about asking someone where she was, but didn't want to come off sounding like a crazy stalker.

Rick knew there were cabins around a lake outside the main wall. He had not been invited, but he had heard people went out there for the weekends sometimes. Couples. Daryl and Merle, who always seemed to know everything about this place before Rick knew it, which annoyed him more than he thought it should. They had both been talking about it. Or Merle had been talking loudly about to Daryl and anyone else that happened to have the unforunate timing of being close enough to hear him. Rick figured maybe Roberta went out there. And that led him to wondering who she went with. From the disgusting way that Daryl's brother had been talking, he had gone vacationing out there for the sole purpose of getting his dick wet.

Early monday morning, Rick woke up to the sound of Judith fussing. He got up to see if Zara needed any help and caught her without her scarf on and without pants on. She was clad only in an oversize tshirt, getting a damp rag out of the small fridge for Judith to chew on.

"Need any help?," he asked her. The woman spun around, her cheeks flushing pink as she tried to pull her shirt down to cover more of her legs. All that did was yank the wide collar down and expose more of her breasts. Her hair was long and thick and black with some curl to it. She had it tied up in a sloppy bun on top of her head to keep Judith from pulling at it. If she had simply stood there, not caring whether he looked or not, her apperance would not have had any effect on him. But the way she was jostling around, trying to cover herself up, made her look sexier somehow. Rick even felt himself blushing a little.

"Oh!," she gasped, seeing him standing there in only a pair of baggy plaid pajama bottoms. She pulled the hem of her shirt down again and then yanked the neckline back up to cover her cleavage, baring her legs again. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"It's okay," Rick assured her. He was not going to think less of her for not getting fully dressed before she came out to get a teething rag for his daughter. But from the shocked way she was staring at him, he thought he might start at least putting a shirt on before he left his room.

"Baby Judith...," Zara said, searching for the words in English. Finally she gave up and opened her mouth, pointing to her teeth.

"Teething," Rick offered, "cutting teeth."

"Cut teeth," Zara repeated, "mouth hurt." As if she was on cue, Judith pulled the cold rag from her mouth and let out another howl. Rick nodded. He tried to remember what Lori did for Carl back when he was that age. From what he could recall, she gave him baby tylenol and those little plastic things she would stick in the freezer. He bet one of the women around here would have something that would help, and made a mental note to ask around later.

"I can take her outside on sit with her on the porch for a while, give you a break?," Rick suggested. The woman seemed hesitant to hand the child over, but then she looked down at her innappropriate attire and changed her mind. She handed the little girl over to Rick and hurried back into her bedroom. Judith followed the woman with her eyes, reaching for her. Rick smiled. "Replaced me already did ya?," he asked the little girl as he smiled at her. At the sound of his voice, Judith looked up and smiled back at him.

He headed outside onto his porch, thinking that he needed to walk down to the bathroom area. There was indoor plumbing here, but not the kind he was used to. His cabin only had a sink. No shower or bathroom. The toilets were all composting outhouses. Between about every third cabin, there were two of them side by side. The waste was taken out and added to large compost heaps out behind the gardens. This unpleasant chore was about the only thing that the group of men he worked with did around here besides grow pot and smoke it.

Grabbing the handle on the outhouse, Rick pulled the door open, only to find that someone was coming out at that exact moment. Roberta was grabbing for the door handle and lost her balance, falling forward. He caught her with the arm that he was not using to support his daughter and let go once the woman was steady on her feet again.

"Hi," she said, smiling at Rick despite the embarassing way she had just managed to run into him. He smiled back at her and she reached her arms out for Judith. "I can hold her for a minute," she offered, nodding towards the inside of the outhouse, "while you go." He handed the girl over, surprised at her offer. And he was careful to wait until the outhouse door was shut before he started laughing at the way Roberta held the girl. Out away from her body with her arms stiff, like Judith was a disease. She had clearly never had a child of her own, and maybe not any neices or nephews either.

"So you're back...," Rick said, taking Judith back into his arms now that he was done in the bathroom. Their bodies touched briefly during the exchange, bare skin on bare skin since he still wasn't wearing a shirt and she was only in a tank top. Roberta smiled, feeling her cheeks getting warmer from just that small amount of physical contact. If Rick knew she was back that meant he must have noticed she was gone.

"I was out at one of the cabins," she mentioned, "needed some time alone to clear my head." She saw that earned her another smile from Rick. And she hoped that meant he had been wondering who she had been out there with. It was not exactly a secret that couples liked to use the cabins to be alone. Most people had roomates or housemates. Privacy was hard to come by. She had thought about inviting him to go with her, but she wasn't sure if they were to that level yet.

They walked back towards Rick's cabin together and when he got there, he saw Zara was out on the porch looking for him, her hair and legs now covered. Judith spotted the woman as well and started squaking and reaching out for her. Zara came down the steps, eagerly scooping the baby up before she headed back inside the cabin.

"That must be going well," Roberta mentioned.

"Maybe too well," Rick admitted. She reached over, putting one hand on his arm and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"She's still your daughter," she told him softly. She felt for Rick, understanding that he probably felt like even his own daughter didn't need him anymore. But she also felt for Zara, who had been raped only to lose the child she decided to keep while she was giving birth. Taking care of Rick's daughter was helping her heal from her loss.

"Honestly," he said, "I'm not even sure if she is mine. Things between me and Lori were... complicated, even before the outbreak." He let out a sigh. That was the first time he had admitted that out loud and it felt better than he thought it would. Roberta's hand was still resting on the upper part of his arm and he felt her give him another gentle squeeze. Rick didn't think about it first, he just found himself reaching for her. It had been so long since he had felt understood by anyone. His arms went around her waist, hands on her back, pulling her against his chest. Her breasts were full and soft and he could feel them pushing against his chest through the thin fabric of her shirt. She moved her hand, running her fingers down his spine and then back up again to rest both her hands lightly on his shoulders.

Leaning down he captured her mouth with his, lips softly touching at first and then pressing harder. Her hands moved down his back, thumbs hooking into the waistband of his pajama bottoms. He kissed her harder. Not because he wanted to, because he needed to. Her lips parted to accept his eager tounge and then they were kissing. Really kissing. The kind of kissing that was making the front of his cotton pants turn into a tent.

A few girls were walking back from the showers, girls Rick had not met yet. They were dressed in robes with their hair wrapped up in towels. And they were giggling. When they passed by one of them whistled at him and then they started giggling even louder, grabbing at each other's arms. Roberta stopped what she was doing and gave them a dirty look. They kept on with the laughter, but Rick noticed they picked up the pace, hurrying to get back to whichever cabin they lived in.

"Maybe we should take this back to my place?," she suggested. He raised an eyebrow, thinking that her roommates were probably there. Cassandra and Addy. More giggling girls. Not that his place was any more private. Carl had a bad habit of flinging his door open without knocking. "There's no one there," she added, "they all left about 15 minutes ago to go on a run."

TWD

Hershel woke up to the sound of a small child shrieking in delight. In addition to the noise, the bed he was sleeping in was being jostled around. Rubbing at his eyes, he saw a boy he recognized as Katie's son was jumping up and down on the other side of the bed, kicking at the pillows and blankets. The boy was chanting bash bash bash as he went on with his fun, not caring if he was distrubing Hershel.

"Sebastion!," Momma D hollered from out in the hallway, heading in to seize the boy. "I told you that you could go in there and get your puppy, not jump on the bed." The boy held a stuffed dog up high in the air, still jumping. Then he hurled the puppet at Hershel's head, sending it smacking into his face before it bounced off onto the floor.

"Bash!," the boy yelled in obvious delight. Hershel heard Dolores scolding the boy and he hid his face to keep the boy from seeing him laughing. Then he got an idea. This little rascal needed to learn a lesson.

"I think you really hurt my leg when you were jumping," he told the boy. Then he pulled back the covers to reveal his rather epic looking stump where his leg had been cut off after he had been bitten. The boy's eyes got wide as he stared.

"Ooooh Noooo," Bash said, "you gots a booboo." The boys grandmother let go of his arm and put her hand up, covering her smile. "Just like Marl," the boy said, sounding very impressed. Then he leaned down and planted a little kiss on Hershel's leg before wrapping his tiny arms around his neck and hugging him tight. Hershel laughed, hugging the small boy against him. His stepson had been about the same age when he had married Beth's mother. And just like Bash, Shawn had been a handful. He had run his momma ragged, especially once she was pregnant with Beth and had a harder time chasing him around all day.

"How would you like to visit the animals with me today?," Hershel asked the boy.

"Horsie?," the boy asked. Hershel nodded. He wanted to check on the new baby horse again, the one that came in on friday. The little filly had gone a long time without proper care, she was underweight and he wanted to make sure she was eating the special food he had told Beth to make for her. Hershel also had a few pregnant goats to check on, a few sick chickens. "Marl go too?," the boy asked, looking hopeful.

"No baby," Momma D told the boy, "he went hunting." She saw Bash's little face start to crumple up and quickly added, "I'm sure he'll be back later." That seemed to suffice the child and he climbed over Hershel and dropped off the other side of the bed to grab his ratty looking stuffed dog. He gave Hershel one more bop on the top of the head with the stuffed toy and then took off down the hall shouting out his battle cry. Bash! Bash! A fluffy orange and white cat came streaking back from the direction the boy had taken and darted under the bed to hide.

"Was he asking for Merle?," Hershel asked. He was a little surprised the man had taken any interest in the boy. But not that surprised. From what he had seen there seemed to be some genuine affection between Daryl's brother and the boy's mother. It was good for the man. Without the love of his first wife, Hershel would have drunk himself to death. The love of a good woman was worth more than almost anything else in the world. And looking up at Katie's grandmother, he couldn't help but think god had been kind enough to bless him a third time.

"Yeah," Dolores said, her lovely face lighting up into a smile. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "He fed Bash breakfast this morning and walked him up here to drop him off. Bash was clinging onto his legs and carrying on, crying and telling him to stay." Her laugh was soft and musical. "That poor man didn't know what to do." She was laughing harder just thinking about it. The look on Merle's face had been a strange cross between confusion and total panic. That man had some good in him. Children could always tell things like that. Hershel was laughing along with her now, at the mental image he had.

"Little guy must be craving some male attention," Hershel said. Dolores nodded. She had not really thought about it much until this morning, but it would be nice for Bash to have some men around. Not that Katie didn't take good care of him, but she couldn't teach him how to be a man. "I can take him out with me today," he offered again. That earned him a loving smile. And the next thing he knew, Dolores was leaning across the bed to kiss him softly on the mouth.

"Have you thought about what I asked you last night?," Hershel asked her, pulling her close for one more lingering kiss before he let go and pushed the covers off so he could get dressed for the day.

"The marriage thing?," she asked, "you were serious about that then?" They had been in bed together at the time so she wasn't sure if it had been just some spontaneuos passion talk, or if he really meant it.

"Of course I was serious," Hershel said. He buttoned the last button on his shirt and strapped on the prosthetic leg that the girls had gotten him on one of their runs. It was a big improvement to the crutches. He knew it was intentional, but the girls were still good at making him feel needed and wanted here. They made sure he knew his worth as a vet was not being taken for granted.

"Well in that case yes," she said after a few moments of hesitation. Her husband had died years ago. And she had never planned on getting married again. But then again, she had not planned for any of this to happen. Hershel was kind and caring. He made her happy in a way that she had not felt in a long time.

"Sure?," Hershel asked her, giving her a wink. She came around the bed and put her arms around his waist, resting her head on his chest.

"I'm sure."

TWD

By the time the door shut behind them, they were kissing again. Her back was pressed up against the doorframe and her arms were around his neck, one hand twisting into his hair. Rick pulled his head back to take a breath.

"I don't have any protection," he said. He liked Roberta but the thought of getting her pregnant was not appealing. Not after what happened to Lori. Just thinking about it scared the shit out of him.

"Don't worry," she said, smiling at him before she kissed him again, "Addy has a lifetime supply of condoms in her room." Roberta darted under his arm and headed for one of the bedrooms. Rick followed her and stood in the doorway. The room smelled like lavendar and there were little pillows with butterflies on them scattered around on the bed. Some clothes were laid out on the bed like the girl had been packing and trying to decide what to take with her.

Reaching under the bed, Roberta pulled out a large tupperware container. When she flipped the lid off, Rick saw that she had not been exaggerating about the amount of condoms the other girl had in her room. There had to be fifty boxes of them in that tub at least. There was a vibrator in there too. A freaking huge one. Rick felt his laughter bubbling up out of him before he could stop himself. If that was Daryl's competition, he felt bad for the man. But not bad enough to stop chuckling about it. It felt good to laugh again. Normal. He had been just surviving for so long, the concept that he might find happiness again was almost foreign to him.

"Catch," Roberta said, tossing a box at him. He grabbed for the box, almost dropped it, and then saved it with his other hand before it hit the floor. She said nothing about the giant dildo, instead she just put the lid back on Addy's container and shoved it back under the woman's bed, trying not to laugh.

Roberta left Addy's room, shutting the door behind her. Then she led Rick towards her room. After seeing Addy's he was curious to get a look at the room of the woman he was about to be with. She opened the door, noticing that Rick was not shy about taking a look around. There was something intimate about having him in her bedroom. No other man had ever been inside it. She felt exposed, but not necessarily in a bad way.

A patchwork scrap quilt was spread out on the bed, and it looked new. In one corner there was an easy chair with a camouflage jacket hanging over the back. Next to it was a small table with a lamp on it and a few well worn paperback books piled up. On the opposite wall, above the dresser, some extra weapons were hanging on the wall. For some reason seeing the knives and guns there made Rick feel more relaxed. Since he got here, this place had just seemed surreal to him. Like the whole apocolypse was one long bad dream that never happened. It made him feel crazy, and lets face facts, he was not exactly the model of mental health since Lori died. Seeing a complete arsenol hanging in this woman's bedroom where it would have had no right to be in normal life, felt oddly comforting.

"Nice Beretta," he said pointing to one of the guns. She smiled.

"That was my military issue piece," she told him, "don't use it much anymore." Rick nodded, thinking that it was funny to see a woman feeling nostalgic over a gun. She moved closer to him, her hands resting on the waistband of his pants. "Did you come here to talk about guns?"

He shook his head. Now that she was touching him again, guns were the last thing on his mind. Her hands were warm and her fingers whisked over his skin like she was waiting for an invitation before she really started touching him. It was not the way he expected her to be. In camp Roberta had a take no prisoners attitude. When she gave an order, the women here jumped to obey her. Now that they were alone, she seemed almost shy.

Her heart was beating hard. So hard she could almost hear the whosh whosh whosh in her ears, drowning out all the other noise around her. Roberta was thankful her palms didn't sweat when she got nervous or right now she would be touching this man with wet clammy hands, betraying the nervousness she was trying to hide.

She had gone back to her home town, with Addy and Cassandra, before she met Katie and came here to live. She had gone back looking for her husband. Hoping he was still alive. But there was no trace of him anywhere. Somehow not knowing what happened to him was worse than finding him dead. Roberta held out hope for a long time. It was part of the reason they put up the survivor outposts. And each time they got a call, she felt the hope surge in her chest again that he might be one of the survivors there waiting to be picked up. Being with another man was not just sex to her. It meant that she was finally moving on. Letting go. It felt so much better than she expected.

The fact that Rick looked nothing like her husband helped. He also had a totally different body type, so even when she closed her eyes, she was not tempted to imagine that this was her husband back from the dead. Her husband had been tall and stocky, like a big teddy bear despite the hard muscle underneath. Rick was slim, still thinner than he had been before the turn, but catching back up to his normal weight quickly now that they had enough to eat. His chest was hard and he had a little trail of silky hair that started at his belly button and led down into the waistband of his pants.

He held her awkwardly at first, not sure where to put his hands. But once they started kissing, she felt him tighten his grip on her, his hands twisting into the thin fabric of her tank top. Then his hands started to roam over her body and she pulled him backwards towards the bed. Both of them were still dressed in only the few bits of clothing they wore to bed. And those were quickly shed and discarded onto the floor of her bedroom. Her blinds were closed, but plenty of morning sun was streaking in between them, painting their bodies and the quilt on the bed with in stripes of light.

Despite the rubbery texture of the condom, which always brought about vague ideas of being examined at the doctor's office my someone in sterile gloves to mind, she found herself climaxing almost as soon as Rick pushed inside her. Needed this more than I thought, she found herself mumbling out loud even though she had not meant to say anything. He kissed her, and she could feel him smiling against her lips. He slowed down a little, kissing her and bringing one hand down under her thigh. She felt him pulling her leg up, bending her knee. Bending the other one as well, she brought both knees up and wrapped them around his waist, feeling him slide into her just a fraction deeper.

He tried to make it last, but it had been so long since the last time he had been with a woman. And he had never been with a woman that looked like this one. Everything about her screamed sexy. Her hips and breasts were soft and full. And her thighs were round and firm at the same time. They felt good wrapped around him, her ankles hooked together under his ass. But it was the sounds she was making that made him come undone. Low moans mixed in with quiet little high pitched squeaks. Lori never made noises when they had sex. He had convinced himself it was because she didn't want Carl to hear them, but the truth was she had been that way since before the boy was even born.

With their passion spent, the room felt cooler than it had before. She got up, pulling the blankets back and climbing underneath them. Rick hesitated before he climbed in, thinking that he had left when Carl was still asleep and not told the boy where he was going. Then he shrugged it off. Carl knew where to go for breakfast. And he knew where to go after that, he was working on one of the gardens today. Picking green beans and squash to take to the kitchen for them to preserve for the winter. Rick decided it wouldn't kill his son to fend for himself for a few hours. Little shit never tells me where he's going, Rick thought with a grin. Then he climbed under the covers and slid in close to Roberta. He slipped an arm under her, pulling her over so her head was resting on his chest. Within a few minutes they were both asleep.


	27. Chapter 27

****Now back to Daryl and the Ladies out on the trading run. An OC named Andrew will be making an appearance soon. He was in another story I wrote called The Heart of Dixie, but I actually wrote him for this story, inspiration pictures will be up on tumblr when that chapter goes up. Read, Enjoy and don't forget to Review. ****

Little Lake was not as little of a place as it's name might have implied. Daryl had only seen part of the place but he guessed the group was equal in size to the group he was now a part of. But like Katie had warned the girls, there were a lot more men here. At least four or five to every woman. Not that he would want any part in organizing such an event, but it crossed Daryl's mind a few times that the two groups of people ought to get together.

The camp was set up on a large island, surrounded on all sides by water. It looked like it might have been some kind of camp or vacation community before the turn. A large and rather sketchy looking bridge was lowered down for them. But it was far to narrow for the bus to drive over. Cassandra parked a safe distance from the water and cut off the engine. The items that had been layed out for trading were packed into a few large bags that were tossed over by the door on the back of the bus. Most of the girls were grabbing their personal items, along with blankets and sleeping rolls. Daryl had only brought his bow and the clothes on his back.

"Don't worry," Addy told him. She pulled a sleeping bag down from one of the baskets that were attached to the roof of the bus. "We got a few spare bags." She tossed the bag at him, much harder than was necessary. He caught it in his arms, stumbling back a step at the force of her throw. A surge of annoyance flashed through him and he wondered what the hell her problem was. Then he saw Addy giggling. She had only been playing around with him. Daryl shook his head, feeling a little silly for overreacting.

Katie flung the back door open Daryl saw a few men standind there. They had some street clothes on, but most of them were also wearing bits of camouflage mixed in. The way they were standing and holding their weapons. Daryl guessed they were all military. Or they used to be at least. A tall man with a big smile helped Katie down from the bus. Once her feet were on the ground, she wrapped her arms around the man's waist in a friendly embrace. The man peered over her head into the bus. At first Daryl thought he was going to have to kick the nosy bastard's ass, but then it became obvious the man was just looking for someone.

"Sorry Charlie," Katie said, "no Roberta this time." She saw the disapointment on his face plain as day. He had tried to recruit Roberta as a member of his group since the moment he met her. Katie knew he liked her. She wasn't sure if anything had ever happened between the two of them, but she would not have been surprised if it had. Charlie was cute. And sweet. He was tall, with a wild mop of curly hair. No matter how serious he was, the man always reminded Katie of a puppy dog. Maybe it was his big blue puppy dog eyes.

The look of disapointment on his face was quickly replaced with one of surprise and she knew he had spotted Daryl.

"Who's the dude?," Charlie asked. Sometimes different girls came. He had met Maria, Roberta, Mandy and a few others. But never a man. The group was always just women. Katie turned and glanced at Daryl long enough for him to see the devilish gleam in her eyes.

"That guy?," Katie asked, pointing at Daryl, "Never seen him before. I thought he was with you." The joke would have been better if she had been able to keep a straight face for more than two seconds. Daryl held the sleeping bag in front of him, giving her a dirty look. Her laugh was loud and unapologetic. Charlie smiled and soon found himself laughing along with her. Then he extended his hand to the man on the bus.

"Charlie," he offered. The man came closer and leaned down to give his hand a quick but firm handshake.

"Daryl." Charlie man gave him a nod, then went back to smiling at Katie.

"Can we get a move on," a black man that was standing a little behind Charlie asked, "I don't like having the bridge down this long." Katie turned, giving the man a smile. Then she held her hand up to her forehead and clicked her heels together, giving him a salute. The man looked like he was trying not to smile at her, but having a hard time of it.

"Must be exhausting to be so serious all the time," Katie whispered to Charlie, who was grinning from ear to ear at this point. She flicked her eyes towards the black man and then raised her eyebrows at Charlie. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into his side, giving her one more quick embrace.

The chickens were taken down from the bus and carried across the bridge, along with the two large baskets of fruit from the orchard. The girls all had backpacks full of their personal things, plus the two overstuffed messanger bags full of trading supplies that were being hauled along by Katie and Michonne. Daryl carried his bow and sleeping bag and followed along behind them. When they got onto the island, the bridge was pulled up behind them. It made Daryl feel uneasy, like he was trapped. He also noticed that like at the orchard, people were staring at him.

They were taken to a cabin with a small fireplace and a few bunkbeds inside. The girls dropped their packs and sleeping bags inside. Cassandra and Addy agreed to stay to keep watch over their belongings for the time being. Katie left with the military guys, taking Michonne and Andrea with her. Daryl noticed she had taken them with her when she spoke to the man that ran the orchard. There was something about the situation that Daryl could not put his finger on. It felt strange that she was taking those two women with her, and not members of her own group. He guessed maybe she was just introducing them around, but it seemed like more than that was going on. No one bothered to tell him anything, he thought with a scowl.

Daryl tossed his sleeping bag on one of the bunks and kicked at the frame of it with the toe of his boot. He felt the same way he had felt since they left the compound. Useless. He was only along in case the bus broke down. Since it was still running, he felt like he had nothing to do but stand around with his dick in his hand.

"Come on," Lexi told him, pushing one of the messanger bags into his arms, "let's go do some trading." Daryl looked at the girl, scrunching up his face at her. It was one thing to be bossed around by Katie. But now even the pipsqueak thought she could order him around. He didn't like that shit.

"Come on," Lexi said, her voice getting higher and more shrill by the second, "Addy and Cass have to stay here and I can't go by myself. Come on come on come on." She was gearing up to throw a full fledged tantrum if Daryl wouldn't go with her.

"There's a bar," Addy told him. She looked at Lexi and then back at Daryl, shrugging her shoulders. Daryl swung the strap of the bag over his shoulder. Taking that to mean he had agreed to go, Lexi gave him a big smile. She bounced over to the door of the cabin and waited for him to make sure he was following her. They were only here for the rest of today and part of tomorrow and she didn't want to waste time. She wanted to find that woman that made the really good smelling soap and trade for some. Plus get her knives sharpened. And maybe trade for some other stuff too. And there were a few cute boys that lived here. Daryl was walking so slow, Lexi tried to grab his hand to hurry the man along. He yanked it back and swore at her under his breath. The girl rolled her eyes at him.

"Addy's right," she informed him, "you are moody son of a bitch." Daryl raised an eyebrow at the girl. Then he turned around and started heading back to towards the cabin. He expected the girl to come chasing after him but she held her ground. "You better come with me," Lexi called to him, "Or I will tell my Aunt Katie you left me there alone." Daryl stopped and turned around. He stared at the little brat, trying to decide if she was bluffing. She cocked her hand up on her hip.

"We can go to the bar first," she said, obviously trying to make a truce.

"A'right," Daryl said, giving in. There was no doubt in his mind that Katie would bust his ass if Lexi took off by herself. And he didn't want that either. Brat or not she was a pretty thing. All legs and breasts and long thick hair. There were some men that would not hesitate to try something with her despite her age. He adjusted the strap of the bag he was carrying and started following along behind her again. They passed a few cabins. Daryl saw a few women hanging clothes out on a line. They waved at Lexi but gave him only suspicious stares. The area was wooded, but not thick with trees. He doubted they were able to do much hunting here. That meant less food.

The trees started to thin out and Lexi led him to what looked like a small town square. There was an outdoor chapel, a few small shops, and what Daryl guessed was the blacksmith. And there was a bar. A saloon to be more proper about it. Or at least that's what the sign on the door said. The whole place looked like a movie set from a western or maybe some kind of renaissance faire. Except people were armed with guns and wearing modern clothing.

They walked into the bar, as promised, which thankfully looked a lot more modern inside than it had from the outside. The place was mostly empty, but there were a few men at a table playing cards. One of them whistled at Lexi but she took a seat at the bar, ignoring them. Daryl scowled at the man. There was a woman behind the bar, and she had a smile for each of them.

"Charlie said you ladies were on your way," the older woman said, speaking to Lexi. She gave Daryl a curious glance.

"Oh," Lexi said, she waved a hand at the man dismissively, "Daryl. He's our new mechanic. Roberta's on a break." Daryl chewed at the skin on his thumb. That introduction didn't exactly make him feel like a first rate member of the group. The woman behind the bar gave him another warm smile anyway.

"We got dark liquor, white liquor, hard cider and beer," she said. Daryl nodded.

"Beer," he said. He would have rather had liquor, but felt he needed to keep his wits about him in this unfamiliar place.

"Cider," Lexi told the woman. Daryl looked sideways at the girl, wondering what in the hell she thought she was doing. He had seen Katie let the girl have a drink before, but that didn't mean he was going to let the little brat get drunk under his watch.

"She'll have water," he told the woman. Lexi rolled her eyes and huffed, but she didn't argue. One of the men that was playing cards at the table spoke up. His voice was thick from the amount of alcohol he had consumed.

"Care ta join us sweetheart?," he asked her, pushing an empty chair out from the table with his foot, "got plenty to drink over here. On me." He held up a half empty bottle of liquor.

"No thanks," Lexi told the man, "I'm fine where I am." The woman behind the bar watched the men, but made no move to interfere. She set a foamy beer down in front of Daryl and handed Lexi a glass of water. Daryl was watching the man, but he was also keeping an eye on the woman behind the bar. She had one hand under the bar, and Daryl guessed she had a gun under there.

"Sure are fine," the man at the table commented. His friends laughed. Lexi narrowed her eyes. This little exchange started out amusing, but she was growing more irritated with the men at the table. No one had the right to disrespect her. She held her hand up, showing the man her middle finger. "That an invitation sweetie?," the man asked. More laughter erupted from the table. With his friends to cheer him on, the man tried to get up out of his chair. He fell back into it, then managed to propell himself to his feet up by bracing his hands against the table.

Daryl didn't pull his knife out, but he grasped the handle with his hand and watched the man closely. He half sauntered, half stumbled over towards Lexi. She rolled her eyes again and Daryl noticed she had her hand on the handgun she wore strapped to her thigh. The drunk man flopped himself up against the bar, leaning close enough to her that she could smell his breath. And god damn it stunk worse than the rest of him. She leaned back, grimacing and fanning her face.

"Something wrong sweetheart?," the man asked, little bits of spittle flying out of his mouth. One of them hit her in the face and she wiped it away with the back of her hand, looking like she was ready to vomit.

"Yeah," she told him, "it smells like something crawled into your mouth and fucking died!" She fanned her hand in front of her face again, wrinkling her little nose up. "God damn!" Now the man's friends were laughing at him instead of with him. Daryl guessed maybe a few of them shared Lexi's opinion that their friend here had a bad case of the stink mouth. "Oh my god, get away from me!," Lexi added. She pushed at the man's chest, trying to back him away from her.

"Don't be that way," the man grumbled. In his drunken state, he must have seen Lexi putting her hands on his chest as an invitation. Or maybe he didn't care if she wanted him close to her not. Either way, he took a shaky step back and then lurched forward. Groping at her waist with one hand, he tried to shove his other hand down her shirt. The next thing he knew he was being grabbed by the back of his neck and hauled away from the object of his desire.

Daryl took hold of the man and slammed his head down hard on top of the bar. He shoved his knife in the man's face, making sure he saw it. The man was complaining about being grabbed, but he was so drunk it was hard to tell what he was saying. Daryl looked up. The bartender woman had a shotgun out, pointing it at the two of them. And Lexi had her gun out, pointing it at the woman.

"Put it down, NOW," Lexi told the older woman.

"Don't kill him," the woman said, giving Daryl a pointed look. Then she lowered her gun and gestured to the men at the table. "Maybe you boys ought to take Dom home to sleep it off," she suggested to them. Two of the men that thankfully did not seem as drunk as their asshole friend approached. Daryl hesitated a moment and then let go of the man that had groped Lexi. The man slumped to the floor, taking one of the stools down with him. It clattered to the floor with a loud crash. The men tried to pull their friend to his feet and then finally just each grabbed a leg and dragged him outside. There was still one man left at the table. He got up and walked over.

"Sorry," he told Lexi, "I didn't think he was going to grab at ya like that." Lexi nodded. The man introduced himself and she let him shake her hand. Daryl noticed that for a girl her age that had just been almost attacked by a grown man, Lexi seemed unshaken. She had seen scarier shit than that, Daryl guessed. The new man picked up the stool that his friend had knocked down and considered taking a seat in it. Another look at the scowl on Daryl's face and he thought better of it. Unlike the idiot who's ration coupons he had been taking in the game of cards, he knew who this girl was. And he had no desire to be messing with the bus girls. First off they would kick his ass. Everyone knew they were crazy. And if they didn't Charlie would. Little Lake needed the trading they did with those women. They always bought a ton of bullets and they paid well for them too. With food.

With the men gone, Daryl sat back down on his stool and took a long drink of his beer. He drained half the glass before he set it back down. Then he picked up the glass and drained the rest. Lexi started digging through the bag that was over her shoulder. She poked around until she found a large ziplock of cream colored powder. She pulled out another bottle that was full of pills. Daryl thought they looked like vitamins, but then he read the label on the front. Brewer's Yeast.

"My Aunt Katie said to give this to you," she told the woman, who snatched the items up eagerly.

"Thank you," the woman said, opening the bottle and examining the pills, then doing the same with the bag of powder, "your group's tab is paid as long as you are in Little Lake." Daryl glanced back and forth between the woman. Then he chugged the rest of his beer down.

"In that case I will take another beer."

He wanted to keep drinking until he was drunk. But Daryl stopped after the second beer. Then he followed Lexi out into the small town area. More people were around than there had been when he came in. Some were just standing around, but others had small card tables set up with items laid out on top that were obviously for sale or trade. Back at Katie's camp, everything was shared. There was no much trading, buying or selling. People had homes and some personal belongings, but it looked like the people in this town did things a little differently.

Spotting the woman she was looking for, Lexi headed over. She bought what Daryl thought was more than enough soap to last her the rest of her life. The woman had to give her a big plastic bag to carry it all in. Lexi paid the woman with a large bag of pot, a few bags of other dried herbs that Daryl guessed might be used to make more soap, and two snickers bars.

Since Lexi had what she came for, they strolled around a while longer, looking at the rest of the stuff people had out to trade. Daryl saw a nice looking zippo lighter. He traded the guy half a pack of AA batteries for the lighter and a bag of skittles and a joint for a bottle of lighter fluid and a pack of smokes to go with it. Sucking on a fresh smoke, he left Lexi at the table chatting up the man's son and walked a few yards away to another table. The man had some musical instruments laid out, but it was a guitar leaning against the side of the man's chair that caught Daryl's eye. This one was an acoustic. It looked a little beat up, and the front of it was pink with little white flowers painted on it.

"Like that one?," the man asked, "I'll make you a good deal. No one wants it because of the color, but it's a good one. Belonged to my daughter." There was a touch of sadness in the man's voice when he mentioned his daughter. Daryl nodded and the man handed the instrument over for him to inspect. He didn't even know what he was supposed to be looking for, but he held the guitar and ran his fingers over the strings.

"Heard you're the new mechanic," the man said. Daryl nodded, thinking word traveled fast in this place. "Got a generator I can't get running," the man said, "Come by my place tomorrow and if you can get it going the guitar is all yours." Since Daryl knew they were going to be here another day and he had nothing to do anyway, he nodded his head at the man and handed the guitar back.

"Deal," he said, reaching for the man's hand and giving it a firm shake.


	28. Chapter 28

When it came to trade negotiations, Andrea was a natural. Katie knew right from the beginning that it was a total waste to have a freaking lawyer pulling up weeds and planting green beans. They had plenty of girls back at camp that could help her with the gardening. But none that had Andrea's education and ability to negotiate. Katie hated bartering. It was the worst part about going on trading runs. She was hoping if she took Andrea with her, the woman would naturally step into the role of negotiator. And it had worked out even better than she expected.

As soon as Katie and Charlie started talking about what they wanted to trade on the next run, Andrea had not been able to keep her mouth shut. She hesitated a few minutes, thinking Katie might be mad at her for butting in. But she had not been able to keep quiet. These Little Lake guys were trying to buy more animals. And they were trying to get them almost for free. Once Andrea spoke up, Katie sat down, kept quiet, and let Andrea and Charlie hammer things out.

On the way back to the cabin, Andrea felt the closest to normal that she had felt in a long time. Katie threw an arm around her, a huge smile on her face. Even Michonne seemed happier than normal. She looked like she might even be close to smiling.

"Congratulations," Katie told Andrea.

"For what?," Andrea asked her, feeling confused. She had a sneaking suspicion that she had just passed some sort of test that she had not even known she was taking. Katie told her before they left that this was her trial run. But Andrea thought the woman just wanted to make sure she knew how to kill a biter. Which she did.

"You are the new team leader in charge of trading runs," Katie told her. "If you want to be," Katie added once she saw the shocked look on Andrea's face. She knew there was a chance Andrea might need more time to recover from what happened to her in Woodbury. But she had also seen the look in Andrea's eye when she was bartering with Charlie. She had been in her element. She had really enjoyed herself back there. And she had gotten so much better of a deal than Katie would have been able to get. Charlie would have been able to guilt her into giving him what she wanted in about two seconds. Andrea did not go for any of his crybaby shit.

Andrea stopped walking, feeling a bit overwhelmed. She looked at Katie and then glanced at Michonne. The dark skinned woman had a huge smile on her face now. "You knew about this?," she asked her friend.

"Course I did," Michonne said, "I'm going to be your partner." Andrea closed the distance between them, hugging Michonne tight. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. It was hard to think about it, but she had almost lost the best friend she ever had to a psychopath. She had picked the governor over Michonne. It was the worst mistake she ever made. A mistake that almost killed her. Michonne would have been in her right if she never spoke to her again. But instead she had given her another chance. And done a lot more than that too.

Michonne had risked her life to come back and save her. She had convinced a lot of other people to help her. Michonne saved her life. Andrea felt her breath catch in her throat and a few of the tears that had welled up in her eyes spilled over. Michonne hugged her tight and she could feel Katie gently patting her back.

"If its too much too soon," Katie said, "we can wait on it a while." She would never be mad about someone taking the time to recover. It had taken her a while before she was ready to go back out after what happened with that creep Joe. Nasty pervert. Should have shot him dead when they saw him on the road the other day. It was against the rules and would have made a bad impression on the prison group. But it would have given her piece of mind.

"No," Andrea said. She stepped back and wiped the tears from her face with the inside of her shirt, "I want to do it. I'm ready." Andrea could almost see it in her mind. Out on the road. Michonne would be in charge of security and she would handle the trade negotiations. It was the perfect job for both of them. And she felt good to be given so much trust instead of being constantly questioned like she was a small child. Like Dale and Shane used to do to her. Taking her gun. Treating her like they owned her. Men. Fuckers. Every last one of them.

"Some of the girls that know the route will go with you at first, but once you know it well enough, you can pick your own team," Katie told her. They spoke a little more on the way back to the cabin. Making plans and hammering out some of the details. Andrea could see how excited and relieved Katie was to have found someone to take over the trade runs. The woman hid it well, but when she spoke about it, it was plain as the little button nose on her face. Katie was tired. Constantly being on the road was wearing her out and she needed a break.

Katie wanted to be at home with her son. She had been using the runs to get away at first. Away from her empty bed and the memories of her dead husband. Away from the guilt she felt. All her anger and sadness, she poured it out slicing away at the dead. Fighting and killing. But she didn't feel that way anymore. Instead of lifting the weight from her shoulders like it had before, being on the road just made her long for her son and for the man that now warmed her bed at night. She was done. Like Roberta, Katie needed a break. A week that she didn't have to kill a Z or pull a gun out on someone.

TWDTWDTWD

Daryl and girls stayed the night in the small cabin at Little Lake and did a little more trading the next day. He slept in one of the bunks, while most of the girl slept on their sleeping bags near the fireplace. He fell asleep to the soft sound of their whispered voices and mingled laughter. Their noises annoyed him at first, but as he lay there with his eyes feeling heavy, he found the sounds of their voices comforting. Hearing them talk and laugh meant there was no immediate threat, and he was able to sleep soundly.

In the morning, all the girls went to town, but Addy didn't really need anything. She strolled around with Katie and found a pair of silver butterfly earings in town that she traded for. She wanted to spend some time with Daryl, but he had taken off early that morning and she had not seen hide nor hair of him all day. He turned up when they were ready to leave, a large guitar case in his hand.

"I didn't know you could play," Addy mentioned to him.

"I can't," he told her, not offering up any further explanation. She felt confused, but had learned by now not to press Daryl for information on subjects that he didn't want to talk about. She was still a bit curious. There might be something besides a guitar in the case. Or maybe the instrument was for someone else. Another member of his group. He would tell her when he was ready to tell her. Or not tell her at all.

Addy sat next to him on the bus, her thigh touching his. Once Daryl had a arm around her, pulling her into his side and letting her rest her head on his strong shoulder, Addy forgot all about the mysterious guitar case stuffed under the seat. Lexi was in the next seat over, staring out the window like she was in la la land. She must have met a boy. Lexi always met a boy. She had propably spent most of the day sucking this new one's face and then left him behind. Addy had gotten a look at the poor kid. He had walked Lexi all the way out to the bus, looking like he was dying of love for her. Tomorrow, Lexi wouldn't even remember his name.

Standing up, Addy pulled a lightweight blanket down from the basket above her head. She spread it out over Daryl and then crawled under it with him. He shifted around, leaning back against the window and pulling her into him. Her back was against his chest and she was sitting between his legs with his arms around her. He put a finger under her chin, tilting her head back to capture her mouth with his. One of his hands lifted her shirt up, the other sliding up it to fondle and rub her under the blanket.

Lexi must have seen them kissing, because when Addy opened her eyes, the girl was gone. She had probably headed up to the front of the bus to sit with Katie. Addy smiled and closed her eyes again. Daryl's hand was over her bra, but under her shirt, squeezing at her and ghosting his hands over the small hard lump of her nipple. She reached up and caught his hand, moving it back down to rest on her bare stomach.

"We will have some privacy tonight," she assured him. She wanted him, but not bad enough to have sex under a blanket with everyone watching and listening.

"Thought we were staying on a boat," Daryl mentioned. She could feel his hot breath on her ear and the sensitive skin behind it. It sent a shudder running down her back all the way to her toes, which curled up tight inside her heavy boots.

"It's a big boat," she said. He chuckled a little at that comment, she could feel his chest moving against her back. Then he wrapped his arms around her and leaned the side of his head against the back of the seat. For a little while they both dozed off, the motion of the bus lulling them to sleep.

TWDTWDTWD

The ocean. Daryl had never seen it before. Never even been out of the state of Georgia. The furthest he had ever been from the small town where he had been born was when Merle dragged him to Atlanta. He had seen pictures of the ocean, but they had not done it justice. The water went on forever, as far as he could see.

Cassandra parked the bus as close as she could without getting it stuck in the sand. Then the girls all hopped out the back and took off down a rugged path to the beach. They walked between tall dunes of sand where bits of tall grass was growing. A few seagulls flew off, squaking their protests at being disturbed.

There were only a few walkers stumbling around. Katie came up under the chin of the first one, stabbing it with her machete. Addy got another with her bat and Michonne sliced through the last one with her sword. There were always dead to deal with, even at the beach.

Daryl knew he was not the only one that was excited to see the ocean. The girls were practically giddy, laughing and chasing each other around. Katie didn't take part in their games. Instead she took the pair of binoculars she had around her neck and held them up, staring out over the water.

"They're not here yet," she said. Noticing Daryl standing beside her, she pulled the glasses off and handed them to him. Leaning close, she guided his line of vision so that he could see what she had been looking at. He saw nothing but water and sky at first, but then something caught his eye. It was a huge boat. He was not sure what he had pictured when Katie told him this group lived on a boat, but this was not what he had in mind. He had never seen a boat this big, except maybe on TV. "It's a luxury yacht," Katie explained.

"It's far away," Daryl grumbled. He wasn't sure how he liked the idea of being so far out from land that he would never be able to make the swim back.

"They ride around on smaller sailboats and powerboats," Katie added, "the yacht is more of a base. It takes too much gas to get it going." Daryl nodded. He could not even imagine how much gas it would take to run the engines of a boat that big. More than they had, that was for sure. To be that rich. Whoever owned that boat had probably spent more money on gas in a month than he made in his whole life.

"How do you know they aren't there?," Daryl asked. Katie smiled and took the binoculars back. She held them up to her face and took another look.

"When they are there, they run up a red flag," she said. Daryl nodded. He took his eyes away from the boat and looked at what was going on right in front of him. Then he started to laugh. Addy and Cassandra were down closer to the edge of the water, stripping their clothes off. Lexi and Andrea were already in the water, splashing at each other. Michonne was standing around with her arms crossed, her sword strapped to her back. Only her feet and lower legs were exposed, and she was letting the water run up over her ankles.

Katie took off down to the water, dropping weapons and clothes as she went. She had tan lines from her bathing suit and a small birthmark on her hip that could only be seen if she was naked. Daryl realized he was staring at her and looked down at his boots. She wasn't related to him or anything, but since she had something going on with his brother he felt perverted looking at her like that. Like he was staring at his own sister naked. Damn she had a rack on her though, Merle had not been lying about that.

Addy was down in the water yelling at him to get in. He glanced at Michonne, who only shrugged at him. Andrea and Katie were adding their voices to Addy's. Come on, get in, you only live once. Daryl hesitated, thinking about the marks on his back. He hated taking his shirt off in front of people. But the thought of his brother drove him down the the water and had him kicking his boots off and tossing his bow in the sand. If Merle found out he had the chance to swim naked with a pack of hot women and he was too chicken to do it, Daryl would hear about that shit forever. And Katie was a damn blabbermouth.

"At least they could turn around," Daryl grumbled to himself, pushing his pants down while Addy whistled at him, "fuckin' perverts." He must have been grumbling louder than he thought, because he heard Michonne start to laugh. "Whatthefuckever," he grumbled louder, "I don't see you getting naked."

"I don't know how to swim," she admitted. Daryl turned towards her, forgetting he was naked. He pointed out to the large yacht.

"You going all the way out there?," he asked. Right now she looked tense and only her feet were in the water.

"Don't know yet," she said, rubbing the gooseflesh off her arms despite the heat of the day. Before Daryl could say anything else he was being spashed with ice cold water. He wasn't sure who had done it, but he heard a lot of laughing and a few catcalls. There was only one way to get into water this cold, and that was all at once. He took off running into the water and dove into a wave, coming up with his wet hair hanging down into his eyes. The ocean was salt water, he knew that. He wasn't that big of a hillbilly. But he had not expected it to be this salty. It tasted terrible and he spit into the water a few times to get the taste out of his mouth.

In suddenly occurred to Daryl that he was swimming. In the ocean. Something that he had always thought he would never get the chance to do. He had swum in lakes before, and even a few backyard swimming pools, but this felt totally different. There was a strong current down by his feet, and the waves were big enough to knock a person over if they weren't paying attention. Soon he found himself smiling and laughing along with the girls. Relaxing and enjoying himself for the first time in a long time.

Addy and Katie tried to teach him how to bodysurf. He was shit at it, but he had fun trying anyway. Once they were all cold from the water, they climbed out and dried off. Michonne and Cassandra built a campfire on the beach. Some of the girls dug for clams with their bare feet. Katie threw out a big handful of stale crackers for the big white gulls and Daryl got three of them with his bow. The birds were so stupid they just kept coming back, even after he shot at them.

Addy steamed the clams in some wine and passed the rest of the bottle around while they waited for the birds to cook on the spits over the fire. The day was getting late and the sun was sinking lower in the sky. The driftwood fire burned almost blue at the base. The girls were talking about whether to sleep on the bus or camp out in one of the vacation homes nearby. Instead of keeping quiet, Daryl threw his two cents in with the rest of the group. He did not want to sleep on the bus. After the cuddling they had done on the bus, and the groping they had done under the water while they were swimming, he wanted to be with Addy. Without an audience. To his surprise, his opinion settled the debate. They would stay in one of the beach houses.

Katie had been lifting her binoculars every so often, looking out over the water. Suddenly she was jumping to her feet, kicking some sand off her boots into the fire. Daryl grabbed for his bow, worried that there might be walkers coming at them. He saw Addy do the same, grabbing for the handle of her bat. But Katie was not fighting a walker. She was running for the water's edge. Then she was jumping up and down, waving her arms above her head. Daryl got to his feet, trying to see what she was waving at.

There was a boat coming in. Daryl could see about five men aboard, and one was holding onto the rails, waving back at Katie. This boat was much smaller than the yacht, but still large for a sailboat. The men brought it in, closer to shore than Daryl expected. The man that had been waving was the first on over the side. He splashed towards Katie, kicking water out everywhere in his hurry to get to her. He was tall, with long blonde hair that was tied back into a low ponytail. His clothes were covered in salt stains and his shirt was open in the front, unbuttoned all the way down to the middle of his chest.

Once he was ankle deep, Katie rushed towards the man and let him swing her up into his arms. She had hugged some of the men she knew at the last camp, so Daryl didn't think much of the show of affection at first. Then he saw they were kissing. And not just a peck on the cheek. This guy had his hands on Katie's ass and they were kissing each other hard on the mouth. Like they were lovers.

Daryl was torn between thinking that Katie kissing the man was funny, if anyone deserved that shit, Merle did., and being mad at her for slutting around on his brother. He decided to keep quiet about it for the time being. Watch and wait. He didn't want to jump to any crazy conclusions. And if Katie was in fact boning this hippie pirate, Daryl wasn't sure if it was even any of his business.

The men that got off the boat were friendly and they didn't stare at him and ask why he was here, unlike the people at the other two camps. One of them helped a younger looking blonde man in off the boat. The kid looked sick and his face was pale. He sat down by the campfire while the rest of the men hauled big bags down off their boat and took them to the bus.

Cassandra turned the freezers on, plugging them into the solar panels on the roof. Once the girls started opening the bags, Daryl saw they were all packed full of seafood. Fish, shrimp and even a few squid and octopus. There was one big fish Daryl had never seen except mounted on a wall. He knew what it was though, a swordfish.

The girls had some supplies to trade for the fish, but it didn't look like much. A big bag of flour and another bag of sugar. A tub of lard. Some dried meat and canned food. At the last camp, the trade seemed more fair, and there had been a lot of negotiation. This seemed different.

"These guys lived with us last winter," Addy said, filling Daryl in a little on the one sided looking trade, "so we don't have to bargain with them. They are more like an extended part of the group. Family." Daryl nodded his head, grateful for the explanation. So these guys brought back as much as they could catch. They gave it all to the girls. And Katie just brought them what they needed for the month. They would get the rest of their work paid for living at the compound for free all winter. It made sense. However, this guy hanging around Katie all winter was not going to go over well with Merle. But that was Merle's problem. Not his.

TWDTWDTWD

"Got a favor," Andrew said, his arm still around her waist.

"The kid by the fire?," Katie asked. Andrew nodded, then tucked a loose strand of his hair back behind his ear. She had seen it as soon as the kid got off the boat. He was seasick. Most people would get a little sick, but it would pass after a few days. But some people's bodies could not handle the motion of being on the ocean.

"We tried everything, even gave him some dramamine. He just kept throwing up. I think he's been puking on and off for a week straight."

"Is he alright besides the puking?," Katie asked. She usually wouldn't take in a man unless he was part of a family group. But she would take this one, if Andrew vouched for him.

"Yeah," Andrew said, nodding his head. His face clouded over with sadness. "One of the camps up the coast a ways, we have stopped there before. Nice people. Some men came and shot them up. Took some of the women. He hid." Katie took Andrew's necklace in her hand, rubbing her fingers over the shark's tooth that hung from it. She glanced over at the young man by the fire. "We were going to take him on," Andrew added, "but he can't handle being on the water."

"We can take him," Katie assured the man. She felt terrible for the sick looking young man. Katie guessed he was feeling a terrible amount of guilt for hiding and watching his people get killed. But if he had fought back, he would be dead. Addy was kneeling near him, her hand rubbing his back, handing him a bottle of 7up to soothe his stomach.

Andrew took his arm from Katie's waist and threw it over her shoulders, hugging her against his chest. He knew she would take the poor guy, even though he was alone. And a man. She still had kindness in her. And that was a rare thing to find these days.

He could tell there was something else going on with Katie though. Something new. She felt stiff in his arms. When he got off the boat, she let him kiss her, but she had given him her cheek after that. Normally, he would have her halfway to naked by now. He wouldn't blame the woman if she had fallen for someone else, another man that could give her what he had not been able to give. But he hoped that wasn't the case.


	29. Chapter 29

The Lady Claimers

Chapter 29

 ****Hi to my old followers and welcome to my new ones. Big loves and thanks to anyone that took the time to leave a review. If you are enjoying this story, you should check out my other one, The Wolf You Feed. Some of the OC lady claimers girls are making an appearance in that one, but they will be playing the villians. Inspiration photos are up on tumblr under my same pen name. As always read, enjoy and review. ****

The boat ride over was not as bad as Daryl thought it was going to be. He didn't know much about the ocean, but he guessed the boatride might have been worse if the weather was stormy. Michonne had managed to squirm out of this little trip. She graciously offered to stay on the bus and keep a sly eye on Mac, that new guy the pirates were pawning off on Katie that was going to be coming back to the compound with them. On one hand, Daryl was grateful to have him along. It made it so he wasn't the only man on the bus. But on the other hand, he did not appreciate the way that little pretty boy had been looking at Addy. That kid was not only more her age, he had some serious puppy dog eyes. Daryl kept telling himself he didn't care, but lets face it, jealousy and anger ran strong in the Dixon gene pool.

They rode over an especially big wave and Daryl found himself bounced up and almost out of his seat. He tensed up, gripping the edge of the underside of the bench he was sitting on with the tips of his fingers. The pirate guys were laughing, like they were having a great time. But Daryl noticed most of the girls were doing the same as him. A few of them were holding on with a white knuckle grip. Addy smiled at him, but her grin looked a little forced. Like she was trying to reassure him because she was just as scared as he was.

The only woman that seemed to be having a good time was Katie. She was up at the giant steering wheel, with Andrew's hands over hers. He was letting her 'drive' his boat, but only under close supervision. When they got closer to the yacht he took over and Katie scrambled over to take a seat next to her niece. The rocking motion of the boat almost made her fall over. Several of the men laughed at her, calling the woman a landlubber or a beach bunny. Despite the jokes, one man darted over and gripped Katie firmly by the arm, making sure she made it safely to her seat.

Daryl didn't know how these men did it, but he was starting to develop a grudging respect for them even though they all wore matching necklaces with shark's teeth on them. Daryl thought all man jewlery was sort of queer. But a bunch of dudes in matching necklaces was taking man accessories to another level of homo. Daryl's stomach felt like it was leaping up into his throat every time the boat moved. And despite their questionable wardrobe choices, these men didn't even miss a step. In fact, they seemed more at home here on the moving boat then they had been back on the beach. Daryl supposed it was something a person would grow to get used to. The constant rocking motion. But he wasn't used to it yet, that was for damn sure.

The smaller sailboat was secured to the side of the large yacht. There was a rope ladder dangling over the side that Daryl guessed they were going to be expected to climb up. Little Lexi went first, scrambling up the ropes like a tiny spider monkey. Showing everyone else how it was done. When she got to the top, Daryl saw a few more men lean down and lift her the rest of the way up and over the railing. A gangly looking one with goggles on his head leaned over the edge and waved down at the girls. Addy waved back.

"Hey 10K," she hollered.

"10K?," Daryl asked. Addy laughed.

"It's how many zombies he's going to kill," she explained. That made Daryl smile. These guys were a regular comedy act. And not in a bad way.

"What number is he on now?," he asked.

"Don't know, last time we saw them he was sitting around a thousand," Addy said. Daryl nodded his head. That wasn't too bad, considering walkers didn't swim so good.

Katie headed up the ladder next. The guys on the boat were hovering near the bottom of the ladder. At first Daryl thought they were scoping out her ass or something. But they had their hands up in a funny way, like they were ready to catch something. Daryl snorted and shook his head. He had got into the habit of expecting the worst from people. The men weren't doing anything perverted. They were spotting Katie in case she lost her grip on the ladder as the water shifted the boat around. At the top, the kid in the goggles grabbed her under the arms and helped pull her over the rail.

Andrea was up next. She slipped off the life jacket she had insisted on wearing on the ride over and looked at the swinging rope ladder with trepidation.

"S'alright," Katie's pirate friend with the long blonde hair assured her, "we won't letcha fall." Andrea was caught up in the man's eyes for a moment. He was so handsome, she figured she would believe a pile of shit was a five course dinner if he told her it was. Swallowing the lump in her throat, Andrea nodded. She turned and grabbed the ladder. The man had his hand on her lower back, helping to steady her as she found her grip. Besides Hershel, who had given her a medical exam, Andrew was the first man to touch her since the governor. And she was surprised by how comforting his hand felt on her back. She grabbed the rungs, one hand after the other like Katie had suggested. Slowly and carefully she made her way up the side of the boat. At the top, Katie and some young scruffy looking kid with goggles on his head pulled her the rest of the way over.

TWD

The run was warm down in her belly. Like true pirates, the seaside guys would drink anything they could get their hands on. But the group drink of choice was rum. Katie always brought two bottles. One to share around with everyone. And one just for Andrew. A present.

She had her thing going on with Merle. The man had made no formal claim on her yet, but her feelings for him were strong. So she had repeatedly told herself the whole way here that she was not under any circumstances going to sleep with Andrew. Her inner monolouge pretty much broke down to _don't be a whore don't be a whore don't be a whore Katie keep your goddamn pants on while you are on that boat and don't be a whore._ It was harder than it sounded.

A few glasses of rum later and she found herself alone with Andrew in his stateroom. She had seen a lot of handsome men in her life, but he was really a beautiful hunk of manbeef. His hair was darker blonde than hers, but the streaks around his face were bleached from the sun. He was always so tan. And his body was lean and hard with muscle at the same time. Katie didn't know what he did before the turn. He never talked about his before life. Not to her anyway. But she liked to pretend in her mind that he was a male underwear model. He was hot enough to be one, that was for damn sure.

She always liked being in Andrew's room. He had left the funny rich looking stuff that had been in the room when they found the boat, then just tossed his own things in with it. So next to the $5,000 vase, there was a hand carved wooden box with a collection of sea shells inside. He kept the expensive bedding too. The sheets on that bed were the softest and silkiest ones Katie had ever slept on.

In one of the little bedside tables, she knew there was a picture in the drawer. Andrew put it away when she came to visit. But she had found it once, when she went digging through his drawers looking for a lighter.

Andrew was in the picture, his arm around a pretty dark haired woman. She had smiling eyes. Their hands were resting on the shoulders of the two boys in front of them. Both of the boys had their mother's dark hair, but Andrew's blue eyes and facial features. The boys were holding up fish they caught, big proud smiles on their chubby little faces. Identical twins. Like Katie's brothers. They were the reason Andrew never talked about his life before the turn. The reason that Andrew never stayed the night with her that whole long winter. He always made sure he was gone before Katie's son woke up. He couldn't do it again. Lose another family. Katie tucked the picture back into the drawer and left it as she found it. She never asked him about it.

Andrew tilted the bottle back, taking another swig. Then he pulled Katie close, a little of the rum sliding between her lips with his searching tounge. She kissed him back, her hands gliding up his arms like they had a will of their own to tangle into his hair. He deepened the kiss, one hand sliding down to caress her backside through her tight jeans. Then he pulled back.

"Sit down," he said, guiding her to the little fancy chair that sat in front of some dead woman's zillion dollar vanity, "I've got something for you." Katie sat, twirling a piece of hair around her fingers and trying to justify in her drunken mind what she had a feeling she was about to do. She tried to repeat the mental speech she had been giving herself on the drive here, but all she could think was _damn look at his ass._ Andrew fished around in one of his little wooden boxes and came striding back over with one hand behind his back. He made Katie turn around towards the mirror and close her eyes. She giggled, but did as he asked.

His hands came down and she could feel him sliding something around her neck. A necklace, she guessed, though it felt heavier than she expected.

"Okay," Andrew told her, "open your eyes." Katie's eyes fluttered open, her hand coming up to feel the item that was fastened around her neck. Everything was secured on thin copper colored chain. A necklace made entirely of seashells. There were so many it almost wore like a sort of bib. A tiny dried starfish hung down the lowest, mixed in with tiny little spotted conch shells and even some pearls. It was without a doubt the most beautiful thing any man had ever given her. She grazed her fingers over the shells afraid to even touch it to much. This wasn't some trinket Andrew found on a run. He made this. For her.

"It's beautiful," Katie said, her voice coming out in a gasp. The tears started filling her eyes and she felt herself start to be overcome with emotion. All the rum in her belly wasn't helping. Her guilt mixed in with how special she was feeling, thinking about how much time Andrew must have spent slaving over his gift to her.

"Damn baby," Andrew tried to joke. He pulled Katie's head against the hard planes of his chest. "Gave it to you to make you happy, not to make you cry." He pulled her up onto her feet, thinking she must be a lot drunker than he realized. "Let's get you up on deck and get you some air." Katie nodded, wiping at her eyes. She let Andrew put his arm around her waist and lead her out of his room and up the stairs that led to the open air.

Katie sat down hard on the wooden bench. Andrew offered to get her some water, but she didn't want him to leave. There was something she needed to tell him. And she needed to do it now, before he started kissing her again and she lost her mind. Her hands went up, fishing for the clasp that would get the necklace off her neck.

"I can't take this," she told the man. He should save it for another girl. A woman that could give him her whole heart. Leave her life and live like a wild pirate on his boat with him. Andrew caught Katie by the wrists, gently tugging her hands away from her neck.

"Of course you can keep it," he assured her, "it's a gift." Katie had never been one to turn down a present before. And he had given her nicer shit than some silly necklace he made out of the shells he collected. It wasn't even real gold.

He knew it as soon as she started to cry back in his room. He had been right about her finding another man. Andrew pulled Katie close, his legs between her knees. He smoothed her hair down as he held her against his chest.

"It's just a gift," he said again, "I don't expect anything in return that you don't want to give me." He felt Katie's hands, digging into the flesh of his lower back. "It's okay," he told her. He wasn't mad. And he would never stop trading and sharing with them just because Katie didn't want to have sex with him. She of all people ought to know him better than that.

Andrew felt Katie bob her head. She relaxed her grip and her breathing slowly returned to normal. He held her close, not wanting to let go until she made him. Whoever she had waiting on her back at camp, Andrew hoped the man was smart enough to know what he had.

Katie felt so much better. Like a heavy weight had been lifted. She was attracted to Andrew. And she cared for him. But it was never the same feeling that she had with her husband. Andrew always kept her at arms length. There was no denying that he was attractive, but she never really felt close to him.

A grin spread across Katie's face. She decided what really needed to happen around here was for the mood to lighten up. She was too drunk to go to bed yet and she wanted Andrew to go back to the party with her. Maybe they could start over as friends. It's what they would have stayed if they both hadn't been so lonely and sad before over losing their respective spouses. Katie's hands were on Andrew's lower back. She snaked one up under his shirt, pinching at his ribs in the spot where she knew he was the most ticklish.

"Oh hell no," he hollered, "First you dump me and now you want to tickle me too. You're fuckin' days are numbered Fox." He dove at her, grabbing her sides and forcing his hands up into her armpits. Katie was squealing and kicking her feet as she thrashed around, trying to get away from Andrew and his crazy octopus arms.

Katie shrieked and wiggled around. She thought about trying to tickle him back, but she was too busy defending all the tickle spots on her body. She was also drunk and really needed to pee. Bad. She couldn't even squeeze her legs together since Andrew was standing between her knees. So she started screaming. Her shouts were mixed in with squeals. She beat at his chest with her open palms. "Oh my god I have to pee! EEK! I'm sorry I tickled you. AH! Let me go Andrew. No! OH MY GOD LET ME GO YOU FUCKER!"

TWD

Daryl and Addy were leaning back on the couch, sharing a mason jar full of rum. She had a plastic bottle of coke she was chasing it with. Daryl was drinking it straight, enjoying the burn as it went down. People had grouped off, some were playing a silly drinking game at the table while others were doing like him and Addy. Relaxing and talking a little together.

Daryl had picked up on it quickly. The vibe here. The girls were not afraid for their safety with these men. If one of them needed to pee or something, they just went. They weren't doing the buddy system thing they had been doing at Little Lake. Daryl tensed up a little when Katie went off alone with Andrew. She was pretty tipsy. But he reminded himself that she was a grown ass woman that had taken care of herself long before he came along. She didn't need a babysitter. If she wanted to fuck every pirate on this boat and the sharks too, that was Merle's problem, not his.

Whatever question had been asked at the table made everyone sitting there break out into loud laughter. Andrea was beating her palm on the table, her cheeks red from the laughter and from the innapropriate question she had just been asked. Daryl snorted a little air through his nose, the corners of his mouth twisting up into a grin. He and Andrea had never been close. But he felt a strange bond with her since they had known each other since the Atlanta camp. He was glad to see she seemed to be doing better after what happened to her. Like all these women, she was stronger than he would have guessed.

"Got to take a piss," Daryl announced, handing the bottle of run to Addy and shoving himself up and out of the plush cushions of the couch they were sitting on.

"And they say romance is dead," Addy retorted with a smirk.

"Could piss on ya instead if you would like that better," Daryl informed her. He quickly realized he said that a lot louder than he intended to, since everyone at the table broke out into another round of laughter.

"Just go up on deck and piss over the side," one of the men at the table suggested, pointing Daryl in the right direction. They had bathrooms on the boat that they let the girls use, but since none of them had any idea where the waste was going or what if anything they were eventually going to have to do to get rid of it, they tried to aviod using them whenever possible. Daryl held his thumb up for the man to see and stumbled his drunk ass towards the stairs that led up onto the open deck.

The air outside smelled different than the air he was used to. He supposed it was the smell of the salt water. Daryl found he liked it. It smelled so much more raw than the air did when he was hunting in the woods. If he had to describe it he would say it smelled like freedom. He thought he would be nervous out here in the open ocean, but he felt exactly the opposite. All this never ending water, he felt like he could go anywhere. For right now where he was going was less impressive. Over to the steel railing to empty out some of the rum he had been drinking and make room for more.

As he zipped up his pants, Daryl heard something that make him tense up immediately. He reached for his bow, but it wasn't on his back. That had been left behind in the room he was sharing with Addy for the night. He could hear a woman screaming and he ran for the noise. It sounded like Katie's voice.

Daryl rounded the corner and saw Katie and Andrew. The blonde pirate guy she had slipped out of the party with a short while earlier. The fucker was standing between her legs, grabbing at her and she was trying to fight him off. Daryl grabbed him hard by the fabric of his shirt and yanked him back. Then he tossed him down hard on the wooden planks of the deck.

One minute they had been horsing around. And the next thing Katie knew, Daryl was grabbing Andrew and throwing him down. Hard. She heard the audible slap as the man's hard body connected with the deck of the boat. Before she could even think to grab him, Daryl was on top of the man. He cocked his fist back and slammed it into Andrew's face. Blood went splattering everywhere and Katie could hear someone screaming. It took her a moment before she realized it was her.

When she saw Daryl bringing his elbow back again, she lunged for him. Grabbing his arms, she tried to yank him back and away from the other man.

"Stop it Daryl have you gone fucking crazy?!," she hollered. This at least seemed to make him pause. She still had to use some force, but he let her pull him back.

"What the fuck you mean he was tryin' ta rape you," Daryl accused, pointing at the man on the ground. Andrew turned his head to the side and spit out a mouthful of blood.

"God damn," the man cursed, reaching his hand up to his face to try and see how bad his mouth and nose were hurt. He had a split lip at least, and he hoped his nose wasn't broken. "You got one foocking hell of a right hook Dixon." Daryl was confused, since the man seemed to sound more amused than angry despite the fact that he was bleeding from the nose and mouth.

"He wasn't raping me," Katie said, her tone more gentle now that she understood Daryl had only been trying to help her, "he was tickling me." Daryl raised his eyebrows at her in disbelief. Then he glanced at the swirling dark water down near the base of the boat. He had just punched the leader of this group straight in the face and he hoped he wasn't going to be taking a long cold swim anytime soon.

Daryl wasn't really sure what to say, he had never punched anyone before that didn't deserve it. He figured he better start with an apology. Preferably before this guy's friends came swashbuckling up here and pitched him over the side of this big fancy boat.

"Uh.. fuck man...," Daryl stammered. "Sorry." He finally spit the word out. It didn't taste as bad as Daryl thought it would coming out of his mouth. Maybe since he actually was sorry.

The man on the ground extended his hand to Daryl. A peace offering. Daryl gripped him by the forearm and hauled Andrew back up onto his feet. Katie started fussing over him, pulling her tank top off over her head and balling it up. Pressing it to his face to stop the bleeding. Daryl tried not to stare at the creamy looking skin of her breasts and her lacy black bra that was barely covering her nipples. He expected her to start giving him the full business, but all she did was smile at him as she held the bunched up shirt against Andrew's face.

"I'm really sorry man," Daryl said again, the words coming out easier this time. Andrew waved him off.

"Don't fucking worry about it," the man told him, "just a misunderstanding." Not that he was happy about getting punched, but Andrew was glad the man was looking out for Katie. He had been quietly observing Daryl since he met him at the beach. He knew plenty of men lived with these girls back at their ranch, but this was the first time they had brought one out on the road with them. It made Andrew curious. Only a certain kind of man would feel comfortable, not only going out on the road with Katie's group, but taking orders from a woman as well. The kind he might be interested in recruiting.

They had a little more room to spread out on the big yacht. But Andrew's group spent a limited amount of time here. Mostly they lived on the smaller sailboats, travelling up and down the coast. Those boats were a lot smaller. They were practically on top of each other. They slept together, ate together, pissed and shit in front of each other. There was no privacy. Because of that, they all really had to get along.

It took a certain type of personality to be able to live like that. Calm and quiet was best. They had to be brave. He couldn't have anyone turning chicken while they were trying to haul in a shark that was half the size of the boat. Andrew also looked for men that were friendly and easy going. He didn't want anyone that was going to start some kind power struggle. Out there in the open water, he needed to have complete trust in his crew. He hadn't met anyone in quite a while that he thought might make a welcome addition. Until now.


	30. Chapter 30

The Lady Claimers

Chapter 30

"No, no and no," Katie announced for about the tenth time. She flicked her eyes to her right, where Andrew was lounging against the back of a chair. Fucker. What he needed was another punch to the face, trying to poach her people. Then she turned her attention back to Daryl. She pointed her finger at him with an exapserated sigh. "If I come back without you, your damn brother is going to throw the fit to beat all fits." Put her in the fucking doghouse with Merle is what these jerks were going to do. Daryl could not stay at Seaside. He had to come back with her.

"Merle ain't my damn keeper," Daryl informed her. The night before, after he punched Andrew in the face, they had gone in and had a few drinks together. Andrew started asking him how he liked being on the water. Telling him about how his group lived and what they did. Before Daryl knew what was happening, he was being invited to stay on after the girls went back home. He was sure that the offer was not being made casually. And it made him feel good. He liked feeling useful. Having something to do everyday. Plus Andrew assured him the girls would be back in another month. If Daryl decided he didn't like it here at seaside, he was more than welcome to go back home with them.

Katie turned towards Andrew, one hand rising and settling on the curve of her hip. She gave him the dirtiest look he had ever seen. Katie had a funny little bitch face when she got mad. It was sort of hot. He really wanted to laugh at her. But that was not going to help. Andrew threw his hands up in defeat. How was he supposed to know the guy Katie was banging was this Daryl's brother. Maybe if she had opened her damn mouth up and said so he wouldn't have tried to convince the man to jump ship.

"How 'bout this?," Andrew suggested, "you go back with Katie now." Daryl opened his mouth to interrupt, but Andrew held his hand up, signaling for the man to wait and let him finish. Daryl shut his mouth and scowled. Katie was treating him like a fucking child. Like he was her responsibility. And he didn't like that shit. He wasn't even sure he if he wanted to stay here before they started talking. Now it was a matter of pride. "You go back with Katie now. Talk to your brother. And then when they come for the next trade run, you can come back and take the long trip up to Maine to go lobstering with us."

Andrew looked at Katie to gauge her reaction. She looked slightly less angry, which Andrew decided he was going to take as her agreement on this. Then he looked at Daryl. The man still had his arms crossed, but he nodded.

"You are going to be 'xplainin' this to Merle," Katie informed Daryl. She was not taking the heat for this crap. Not one ounce of it. He shrugged. Unlike certain people around here, Daryl's brother didn't treat him like a little sissy baby. If he wanted to leave for a month, he doubted his brother would care. He was too busy doing whatever he was doing with Katie to even acknowlegde Daryl's existence half the time anyway.

The room they were in was what Katie supposed would be considered the sitting room. She wasn't really sure. Having a big house with rooms no one ever used wasn't really her thing. Whatever it was called, they were in the room you had to walk through to get into Andrew's bedroom. The door to his bedroom was hanging open, but Katie had not realized anyone was inside sleeping or she would have kept her voice down.

"What's all the arguing about?," Andrea asked. She appeared in the doorway, naked except for one of Andrew's thousand thread count sheets, which was wrapped around her like a cape. She yawned and leaned against the doorframe. Her hair was all rumpled looking, and the back of it was sticking out in a wild tangle of curls. There was a large purple hickey on her neck.

Katie took one look at the woman and started laughing. Andrea looked like she got the Andrew special treatment, that was for sure. Katie supposed she ought to feel jealous or something, but she didn't. The other woman's appearance was just too comical. She looked like she had been rode hard, put away wet, and then rode hard again.

"Nothing," Andrew told her, "just doing some negotiations." He gave the woman one of his million dollar smiles. Or maybe it was only a half million dollar one today, since his face was all banged up.

"Did Andrea tell you she's our new trademaster?," Katie asked, directing her question to Andrew. She wondered if he and Andrea had actually done any talking with their mouths the night before.

"She did," he answered, "I think she'll be great at it." Then he gave Katie a wicked grin. "Anyone is bound to do a better job than Katie, since all she does is give everything away for free." Daryl snorted through his nose while Katie swatted at Andrew, insisting he was telling nothing but lies.

TWD

Hershel was almost knocked off his feet Beth came flying at him so hard. With one fake leg his balance wasn't exactly top notch to begin with. She wrapped her arms around her father and pressed her soft cheek against the rough hair of his beard. He smiled and hugged her back, patting her back and trying to pretend her hair didn't smell like pot smoke.

"I'm so happy for you Daddy," she gushed. Maggie stayed back, leaning into Glenn. He had his arm around her waist, holding her close. She didn't rush into Hershel's arms to hug him. That had never been Maggie's way. But she was smiling and rubbing at her eyes like she didn't want anyone to know how emotional she was.

"I'm happy for you too," she told her father. That made Hershel's heart swell. He had not lost Beth's mother that long ago. And he had not been sure how his girl's would take the news about him getting remarried to a woman he had not known for very long. He was relieved that they seemed happy for him.

Hershel had been trying to bring both girls up to the main house and sit them down for a talk for a few days now. He wanted them to hear the news from him first. But one or both of them was always busy with someone, or else there had been a ton of other people around. Hershel knew his new fiance was waiting on him to be able to tell her own family the news. And he didn't want her to have to wait any longer. So when he found both his daughter's in the barn together, he took the opportunity to tell them the news.

"Now don't go telling everyone just yet," Hershel cautioned his daughters, "Dolores wants to be able to tell her own family before they hear it from someone else." Beth pulled back and nodded, her face very serious. Hershel bit his lip to keep from laughing at her.

Feeling pressure on the hem of her shirt, Beth let go of her father and turned around. She let out her breath in a frustrated sigh. It was the little horse again. The one she picked up on that run last week. She had been working to get the little filly to trust her. And it had worked. A little bit too well.

The split rail fences worked well to keep the larger horses contained. But the new horse was so small it could slip between the rails and get out. Each time it did, it ran around on a mission. Looking for Beth until it found her. If anyone else tried to catch the horse and put it back where it belonged, it would take off like a rocket. Beth shoved the filly's mouth away from her shirt before the animal chewed a hole in it. Then she stroked it on the head.

"Hey Houdini," Glenn said, letting go of Maggie and edging towards the small horse. He held his hand out for the horse to sniff and then tried to pat her on the head like Beth had just done. The horse shook her head at the smell of him, like he stunk worse than garbage. Then she danced away out of his reach.

"Houdini is no name for a girl horse," Maggie teased. She knew it was already too late. As soon as Glenn started calling the filly by that name, everyone else picked it up and started using the name too. Since the horse did nothing but escape from every pen or corral they tried to put it in, the name was fitting.

Hershel could hear the boys before he could see them. Trampling into the barn, stomping harder than the horses. Katie's twin brothers. Hershel knew the boys must have names, but no one ever seemed to call them anything excecpt _the twins._ Even their own family members. Since he was going to be related to them soon, by marriage, their step grandfather to be exact. Hershel made himself a mental reminder to learn their actual names and to start trying to figure out how to tell them apart.

"Hey Beth," one of the boys called out. As he was hollering at the girl, Gannon caught his foot on a feeding bucket and went flying headfirst into the dirt floor of the barn. Grain and leftover vegetable scraps went flying everywhere. The other twin was quick enough to dart out of the way and keep from being taken down by his clumsy ass brother. Houdini let out a high pitched whinny and hauled ass out of the barn and away from the rowdy boys. Glenn followed her, watching to see where the little horse would go. And he would be damned if she didn't duck right back through the fence and put herself back in the pasture. Glenn heard Maggie's soft laughter behind him, her arm came around to hug his waist as she rested her chin on his shoulder.

"Maybe we should make it a double wedding," she whispered into his ear. Her breath tickled him and he felt his arms break out into gooseflesh despite the warmth of the afternoon.

"I was thinking that too," he whispered back, "But I don't want to steal your dad's thunder." He could feel Maggie shaking with silent laughter behind him now. Her dad was a little old to still have thunder.

"If I was pregnant, would that change your mind," she asked him. She had been waiting for the right moment to tell Glenn her news. By the time they got here, her period was already a week late. Maggie waited until she knew her dad was out at the barn dealing with the animals and then she had gone to the medical center. Maria didn't ask her a lot a questions, she just handed her one of those sticks to pee on. After two very long minutes, Maggie had looked down at the little white plastic stick and seen a tiny blue plus sign staring back at her. Maria gave her a bottle of fish oil and a list of the foods she needed to be eating. Mostly lots of dark green leafy vegeatables. A big salad every day for lunch would do the trick. She told Maggie if she got to the point where she couldn't keep her food down to come back for some iron pills.

Glenn's body tightened up. He stood completely still for a moment, letting Maggie's words sink in. She was pregnant. And not just with any old baby. With his baby. He was going to be a daddy. Glenn spun around to face Maggie and threw his arms around her. Back at the prison, this would have been a death sentence. But here it was joyful news.

"Are you sure?," he asked her. She nodded, overcome with emotion. She had never been in the situation of having to tell someone they had gotten her pregnant. And to tell the truth she had been a little afraid of how Glenn would react. His obvious happiness and excitement helped her to shed the last bits of fear and regret she had over her condition.

Hershel was watching Katie's twin brothers buzz around his younger daughter like bees. It seemed they had plans to go fishing and they wanted Beth to go with them. Beth didn't look to sure about the idea, but she agreed to go. The twins were a little much sometimes. They were what she would call loud talkers. But they were nice boys. Beth liked them. She helped them clean up the horse food mess they made in the barn and then she went down to the pasture to let Hex know she would be back later to help put the horses away for the night with both boys on her heels talking at her a mile a minute.

Hershel turned his attention to his other daughter. From the way she and Glenn were acting, he had the feeling he had missed something. Maggie was tearing up again. And this time so was Glenn. And Hershel didn't think it was with joy over his wedding announcement. He stared at the young couple until they remembered he was still standing there. Glenn made a funny little noise and removed his hands from Hershel's daughter, remembering that the way they were wrapped around each other wasn't really polite in front of mixed company.

"We have a surprise for you too," Maggie told her father. Then she smiled at Glenn and gave him a little nudge. Glenn was still too exctied to even worry about what Hershel's response would be to his daughter being knocked up.

"I'm going to be a... well I mean you're going to be a...," Glenn stammered, his face turning red, "Maggie's going to have a baby."

TWD

"Don't stick yer whole pole in the water. That ain't how you catch a fish," Merle repeated for what he felt like was about the tenth time in a row. He reached over, adjusting Bash's small pole so the boy was holding it in the proper position. The kid stayed that way for about five seconds. Then he dipped the whole pole into the water again and yanked it back out, flinging water everywhere.

Merle wiped his face off with his shirt, trying to figure out how he had gotten tricked into this. He had gone up to the main house. Just to check on the damn kid. Like he told Katie he would. He figured it would only take him a few seconds and he might get a blowjob out of it when the woman got back. The fucking kid had latched onto his leg like a leech, wanting him to come play some stupid game with him. He told the kid's Gran he could only stay a minute. He was on his way to go fishing.

"Oh," the sneaky old broad said, "Bash loves to fish." Before Merle knew what the hell was even going on, a tiny fishing pole and some little rubber boots were being shoved into his arms. And he was being shooed back out the door with Bash still clinging to his leg.

At first Merle didn't think taking the kid fishing would be so bad. He used to take Daryl fishing when he was little like this. But Daryl the child had been about the same as Daryl the adult. Quiet and serious. This kid was a fucking lunatic. No blowjob was worth this much aggravation. First the kid threw his own shoes in the lake. Merle had to fish them out with the net. He refused to bait his own hook, and while Merle was threading a worm on his hook for him, the fucking kid stuck another worm in his mouth and swallowed it before Merle could make him spit it out. _Hope he ain't allergic to worms. Is being allergic to worms even a thing?_ Now the kid was flopping his pole around, doing everything except what he had been told to do. The fucking kid was going to end up getting a hook stuck in someone and if that someone was Merle, he was not going to be a happy camper.

Katie's numbskull brothers were down at the end of the dock. Merle brought them along thinking they could help him with their nephew. Instead they were smoking pot and trying to make time with Hershel's little pop tart daughter. Idiots. If either of them wanted to get anywhere with that girl, one of them was going to have to hit the road. What did they think they were going to get hanging out with her together. That she was going to screw them both at the same time? Not a little church girl like that.

"Twins!," Merle shouted. Two blonde heads popped up. "One of ya come down here and give me a hit of that," he told them. Merle knew their names. And he could tell them apart. Gannon was the clumsy one that let Katie hug and fawn all over him. Greg was smarter and a better shot.

Gannon handed the fishing pole he wasn't really using anyway to Beth. Then he walked down the dock and handed the half a joint they had left to Merle. He looked a little nervous and was glancing back and forth between Merle and his nephew.

"You know Katie doesn't like people smokin' around Bash," Gannon finally spit out. Merle gave the little boyscout a grin.

"Well you sit 'ere with him then, while I go have a smoke," Merle told the boy. Gannon didn't seem bothered by the idea. He sat down next to Bash and stuck his feet in the water. The kid tried smacking Gannon with his fishing pole but he already had his hand up and ready for the attack. It was pretty much a given that Bash would try and hit you with whatever item happened to be in his hands. Gannon could never figure out why his little nephew was always so mean to everyone. His sister was never anything but gentle with the boy. She didn't even spank him. Not even when he really deserved it.

"Piss off down there and help yer brother watch Bash," Merle told the other twin. Greg looked disappointed, but he did as he was told. Merle had a little chuckle. Kid thought he was going to make some time with this girl while his brother was babysitting? Wrong. Merle took a long drag on the joint and offered it to Beth. To his surprise she took a small puff and handed it back. So much for being a little church girl.

"Decided which one o'them yer goin' ta show yer little titties to yet?," Merle asked the girl. Beth gagged on her own spit, then coughed out the smoke she had just breathed in. Merle held the joint between his lips and pounded her on the back a few times.

"You're a pig," Beth informed him once she was done with her coughing fit. She didn't know how Katie, or any woman for that matter, could stand to be around him. He was so rude. It was hard to believe he was related to Daryl. That man had never been anything but polite to her.

"Maybe yer looking for a two for one deal," Merle suggested. He liked the shocked look on her face. And then the little angry look she gave him.

Beth turned her attention back to her fishing pole. She was not even going to dignify that disgusting suggestion with a response. Plus she had a feeling Merle was just trying to get a rise out of her.

"Was jus' teasing you a little," he informed her, "don't need to get yer little virgin panties all in a bunch."

"I am not a...," Beth stopped herself before the rest of that sentence came out. She stopped too late, and now Merle was having a good laugh at her expense.

"Bet yer a real sex machine," he suggested, stopping his laughter only long enough to take another drag on the joint. Beth reached over and snatched it away from him, taking another puff even though she knew she had really already smoked too much with the twins. She got blurty with her words when she was high. Her last statement was evidence of that.

Merle had only meant to joke with the girl a little. This conversation was getting more interesting than he thought it might be. She was with his brother's group all last winter. He wondered if Daryl ever got a piece of that ass. She didn't have much of a body but she had a pretty face. Merle opened his mouth to ask her when he was suddenly interrupted by the most horrible screaming he had ever heard in his life.

Merle startled, dropping the joint into the lake. He only had to turn around to realize who was making that terrible howling noise. Katie's fucking kid. God mother fucking dammit all to hell. The kid had the fish hook stuck right through his lip. And he was trying to yank it out himself. Gannon was grabbing at his hands to try and stop him while Greg stared at them both like a retarded deaf goat.

"Fuck it all to hell," Merle hollered. The little fishing pole was in the water, the weight of it pulling on the hook and making it hurt worse. He scrambled over, pulling his hunting knife out. Leaning down he sliced through the line, letting the pole float away. _Fuck that pole._ But then he hesitated, not sure what to do.

The kid was flopping around the a damn fish out of water. Gannon could barely keep hold of him. And he was howling like a wounded animal.

"MOOOMMMMA! MOOOOMMMA!" When Merle reached for the kid, he shrieked so loud it made Merle's ears ring. That was so high pitched shrieking. Like a little fucking banshee. Greg found his voice.

"Oh my god what should we do? Holy fuck." He was ready to panic.

"GO GET THE FUCKING CART," Merle hollered at the boy. There was only room for one person on this dock to be having a panic attack and that person was him. Greg took off running. Merle went to grab for the kid again and felt himself shoved out of the way. Beth. She pushed him aside and kneeled down in front of the boy.

"It's okay," she said, using the soft soothing voice she used to calm scared animals, "You're okay, it's all going to be fine." She reached over slowly and took the boy's face between her palms. Bash didn't look so sure about her, but he did stop screeching and flopping around. This wasn't his mommy. But she was pretty like his mommy. And she seemed nice. He liked the color of her hair. Because it was like his Mommy's.

"You are going to be just fine," Beth told the boy, "We are going to take you to see Maria and she is going to get the hook out." Beth held her arms out to the boy. He looked up at his uncle, over at Merle and then back a Beth again. Then he made his choice. Bash wiggled away from Gannon and climbed into Beth's arms.

"I want Mommy," he cried. Big crocodile tears were dripping down from his eyes. But at least he wasn't trying to yank the hook out. That would tear his mouth apart. Merle was cursing under his breath. The kid insisted on using the biggest hook they had. Big hook to catch a big fish. Now the thing was stuck in his face. Katie was not going to be happy about this.

"I know," Beth told him. She felt Merle's hand under her arm, helping her up into a standing position. For a little guy, Bash wasn't exactly light. "We can get your Momma D for you," Beth suggested to the boy as she climbed into the backseat of the cart.

"Momma Dee," the boy repeated. Once everyone was in the cart, Greg panic slammed the gas and then panic braked, sending them all bouncing around.

"Watch what you're doing Gannon," Beth shrieked out. She was holding the boy close to her and the last thing they needed was for the hook to get stuck in both of them.

"I'm not Gannon, I'm Greg," Greg informed her.

"NO ONE GIVES A FUCK! JUST DRIVE THE CART!," Merle hollered at the boy.


	31. Chapter 31

The Lady Claimers

Chapter 31

 **** Hello to everyone! Just a reminder I have inspiration photos up on my tumblr under the same pen name for this fic and lots of others. There is a companion piece to this story called Claiming Woodbury, it takes place before the start of this one. Also Katie and Mandy are playing the villains in my other story The Wolf You Feed so feel free to check that one out if you feel so inclined. Thanks as always to anyone that took the time to leave a review. ****

It was getting late in the day. They really should have stayed and slept the night at the orchard. But Katie was eager to get home. Since most everyone else felt the same, or at least didn't want to take the time to argue, they loaded up the baskets of fruit they had picked and the ones that had been picked for them and climbed their tired asses back on the bus.

Cassandra was dead on her feet, so Katie chugged the rest of her red bull and slid into the driver's seat. Once they were back out on the road, people started dozing off. Michonne's head fell to the side and then she was leaning against the window of the bus in a very awkward looking position. Andrea stood up on the seat and pulled a pillow down out of the hanging basket. She lifted Michonne's head carefully up and placed the pillow between her and the hard metal frame of the window. The woman's eyes fluttered open and she reached one hand up to give Andrea a gentle squeeze on the arm. Her eyes fell shut again and she snuggled her head into the pillow.

Andrea headed for the back of the bus first, to poke around in the small fridge and see if there was anything left to drink with caffeine in it. There wasn't. Someone had traded at Little Lake for some of those fancy iced coffee drinks. That kind that were sealed in a glass jar and stayed good forever. But they must have been hidded away or guzzled down already. It had seemed like a silly thing to trade batteries for at the time, but now Andrea was wishing she hadn't been so practical. In fact she would give all the batteries she had for an iced coffee right about now.

Bracing her hands on the tops of the seats to steady herself, Andrea headed up to the front of the bus. On her way she passed Daryl, who was passed out with his head in Addy's lap. She was leaned back against the seat, but she slit her eyes open and gave Andrea a small smile as she passed by. They were all exhausted. Not really because it was late. It was just starting to get dark outside. But the long trip had ended with a full day of picking fruit out in the hot sun. They got an extra crate of cherries and three extra bushels of peaches out of it, so it had been worth the effort. Katie kept everyone going by promising them each of bottle of peach pie moonshine when they got back.

"Hey," Andrea said, sliding into the spot behind the driver's seat.

"Thank god," Katie exclaimed. She was about to fall asleep herself and having the entire bus in silence wasn't helping her stay alert. The red bull didn't really help. Now she just felt shaky and tired. "Tell me a funny story quick before I pass out." Andrea laughed. She was actually glad everyone else was asleep, since she wanted to have a quick talk with Katie and make sure there were no hard feelings over her sleeping with Andrew.

"One time I shot Daryl in the head," Andrea said. Katie laughed hard at that, almost choking on the water she had been sipping on to keep herself awake.

"For real?," Katie asked. Andrea laughed again and told her the story. Hershel's farm. It seemed like a thousand years since then. Katie asked a few follow up questions and Andrea ended up telling her the whole story. About them looking for Sophia when she had been in Hershel's barn the whole time. About Shane and Rick and Lori. About what happened between her and Shane. And even about Amy. It had been so long since Andrea had talked about her sister. But she missed her sister every day.

"I'm sorry," Katie told her, "it's hard losing someone you care about." From her tone Andrea could tell the woman spoke from experience.

"You lost your husband, didn't you?," Andrea asked. Katie nodded. "Was he bitten, like Amy?" Katie shook her head. She didn't answer the question at first, and Andrea was starting to wish she hadn't asked. But then Katie finally spoke up.

"No, he wasn't bitten," she said. Her voice had gone thick and she gripped the steering wheel harder than she needed to. "He hung himself. It's how we figured out people turned no matter what. Even if they weren't bitten."

"How long were you married?," Andrea asked. She didn't want to say she was sorry. Sorry was just a word. Sorry didn't bring Amy back. And it wouldn't bring Katie's husband back and make him care enough to keep fighting either.

"Forever," Katie said. The question made her feel more relaxed. She was to the point where she didn't mind talking about Davis. The good times at least. She still didn't like thinking about how bad things had gotten at the end. "We were in love for as long as I can remember. He asked me to be his girlfriend when we were about six I think. We got married right after I turned 18." Andrea was surprised at that bit of information. Katie came off more sexually experienced than that.

"Were you a virgin when you got married?," Andrea asked. If Katie had waited for marriage that would make her pretty much the only person Andrea knew that had. It seemed weirdly old fashioned but sort of romantic at the same time.

"That depends on how you define virginity," Katie quipped. They giggled together over that. Andrea felt a lot more comfortable now that they had talked and shared bits of their lives with each other.

"I wanted to check and make sure you weren't upset about Andrew," Andrea finally admitted.

"About you sleeping with him?," Katie asked. Andrea nodded. Katie laughed again and threw one hand in the air in a dismissing gesture. "Andrew's fair game..." She paused a moment, trying to decided if she wanted to continue with what she was saying. Katie liked Andrea and didn't want her to get hurt, but she didn't want the woman to think she was lecturing her or trying to scare her away from Andrew because she liked him either.

"What is it?," Andrea asked. Katie chewed at her lip and took another sip of water, searching for the right words to explain what she wanted to say.

"Andrew is easy to love. But don't get too attached. He's sort of a player, in case you didn't figure that out already," Katie finally said. She thought about getting into the stuff about Andrew losing his family, but it seemed too personal. If he wanted Andrea to know about that, he could tell her himself.

"So you don't mind that I slept with him?," Andrea asked. Katie laughed at the suggestion.

"Knock yourself out," she told the other woman, "Merle's claimed though."

"I don't think anyone is planning to fight you for him," Andrea remarked. She almost covered her mouth as the words slipped out. That was not a very nice thing for her to say about the man that Katie obviously liked. Of course Katie just laughed like it was the funniest thing she ever heard. Andrea leaned back in the seat, smiling. They were coming back from this trip with supplies, but she was coming back with something she had found was much more valuable in this new world. A friend.

TWD

"Hey Greene," Daryl called out as he climbed down off the bus. He saw her blonde ponytail bobbing as she walked down from the main house. He knew it was safe here. But he still didn't like her wandering around by herself. Especially in the dark. Well dusk. It wasn't pitch black out yet. "What are you doin' up so late?," he asked.

"Daryl," Beth said, "it's only like 10:30." She laughed. What did he think she was, a toddler? "I was up at the main house for movie night," she said. Her dad was even there, she had not been doing anything wrong. She didn't feel like she needed to explain herself to Daryl, but it seemed less awkward than standing there staring at him.

"Have a good run?," she asked. Daryl nodded. Then his face lit up like he suddenly remembered why he had called her over to the bus in the first place.

"Stay 'ere," he told her, "I got somethin' for ya." Beth was curious. She hadn't asked for anything. And if she had wanted something she probably would have asked one of the girls to get it for her. Not Daryl. She figured he would be to busy doing Daryl business to even think about her.

Daryl clambered back up onto the bus, bumping into Cassandra in his hurry. She laughed and asked him where the fire was. When he came back out he had a guitar case in his hands. Now Beth was really curious. She had always been under the impression that her singing annoyed the man, so it was strange that he would want to give her a musical instrument of any kind. He shoved the case at her. Then he made a face like he was going to barf. Beth turned to glance around behind her. Katie and Daryl's brother were sucking face. They were really going at it too. Like she had been gone for a year instead of only a few days. Beth giggled. People were already laughing and they were going to start cat calling them if they didn't knock it off.

"What is it," she asked, turning her attention back to the guitar case in her hands. Daryl gestured for her to open it up. She fumbled around with the case a moment, then finally set it on the ground and popped it open. The cutest guitar was inside. It was a little beat up looking. But she almost liked it better that way. The face of it was pink with flowers on it. It was just her style. Something she would have picked out for herself.

"You got this... for me?," she asked.

The delight on her face was obvious. She loved the guitar. Her enthusiasm was contagious and Daryl found himself smiling along with her. He couldn't really explain why he had traded for the guitar. He had just seen it sitting there and thought about Beth. Like it had her name written on it.

Beth stood back up and stepped over the open guitar case. She flung her arms around Daryl's neck and kissed him on the cheek.

"Ohmygosh," she gushed, "it's the best present anyone ever got me. I love it. Thank you so much." She hugged him again, hopping up and down a little in his arms. When she pulled away, she saw Daryl's face was getting a little red. That made Beth feel bad. She hadn't meant to embarass him. And she had been so excited she forgot about how he didn't like people touching all over him. "Sorry," she said, "I got excited."

By this time, some of the other girls were crowding in to get a look at Beth's new guitar and Daryl was able to back away without being noticed. Lexi was chattering on about how they ought to get everyone together that knew how to play music and start a band. She could sing and play the piano, it seemed. Daryl leaned into the back of the bus and pulled down a bushel of peaches. He set it on the ground, since he wasn't sure where it was supposed to go.

When he looked up, he saw Addy standing in front of him. And unlike everyone else, who seemed excited about the gift he brought for Beth, she did not look impressed. In fact, she looked like she was pissed off. Real fucking angry.

"Whatsa matter with you?," Daryl asked her. It seemed that was not the response she was looking for. Because not only did she not answer his question, she turned and stormed off. Daryl thought about going after her, but he wasn't in the mood for a fight. He was tired and he just wanted to go home to Katie's house and get some sleep. Sometimes having a girlfriend, or whatever she was, was more trouble than it was worth. So he shrugged it off and asked Mandy where they wanted the peaches.

TWD

Katie's grandmother came out of the house. She was in her robe and slippers, which made everyone laugh except Katie, since she was afraid something was wrong. The woman pulled her and Lexi aside. Which made Katie even more nervous. But all Momma D wanted to tell them was that she and Hershel were getting married. Everyone around camp knew by now. And she didn't want to miss out on the chance to tell her family members herself.

This led to much squealing. Lots of shreiking. And even more loud excited chatter. Since a loud portion of this was being done in close vicinity to Merle's ear, he had a rather comical looking scowl on his face. He tried to back away, but of course Katie had ahold of him. Luckily, she quickly grew bored with ruining what hearing he had left and ran over to fawn all over Beth. Her new sister in law. He wasn't sure if that was accurate. Seems like they would be more like aunt and niece in law. But as long as they were squealing over by the bus and not in his face, he figured they could be double fuck cousins for all he cared.

Merle felt a gentle hand come to rest on his shoulder. Since no one around this place really touched him besides Katie and her kid, the pressure startled him. He turned to see who was touching him. It was just Katie's gran. Who he liked. So he didn't mind the touch. She gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze and then patted him on the back. Momma D had not been so sure about Merle at first. But she had seen how freaked out he was about Bash getting the fish hook in his lip. He was really worried about the boy. That had won her over.

"We could always make it a double wedding," she informed him. Merle was about to give his opinion on that. The polite version of it being that he wasn't the marrying kind. But then he saw the sly grin on the woman's face. She was teasing him. Maybe even enjoying his discomfort just a little bit. He didn't know why he was surprised. She was Katie's grandmother after all. And that woman was full of nothing but piss and vinegar. Now he knew where she got it from. Hershel was going to have his hands full.

TWD

Roberta was at the counter, pouring them each a mug of tea. She switched her watch shifts around so they could take night watch together. And tonight was a night they both had off. Rick was now a member of the security team. The first official male member of the team in fact.

He had expected the women to give him a hard time, but he found the opposite was true. They had all been very welcoming and friendly. And soon there would be one more male member. Rich, Rick's neighbor was switching work teams. At the moment, he was taking some time off to help his daughter with her new baby. But when he was done he wanted a job that would allow him to stay closer to home and be available if she needed him. Rick got the feeling that giving up leadship of the hunt team had been a big relief for the man. From what little he had heard from Daryl and his brother, the job mainly consisted of wrangling unwilling teenage boys into working when they would rather be goofing off.

Rick moved in closer and slid his hand around Roberta's waist, pulling her body against his and using his nose to nudge her hair out of the way so he could kiss the skin on the curve of her neck. Since the morning they first got together, they had slept together almost every night. Rick was starting to feel a little guilty, for sleeping in a different house than Judith and Carl.

He knew the kids were close. And safe. But he slept better when they were under the same roof. They had all been on top of each other for so long it had turned him into a real mother hen, he thought with a smile. Every night he was torn between sleeping over and going home to his kids. And every night he ended up finding it impossible to leave. He supposed he could ask Roberta to come home with him, but with her roomates gone, they had so much more privacy at her house. And they were in the first flush of infatuation with each other. The time where all they wanted to do was be alone together. He had been thinking that maybe their living arrangements ought to be rethought. But it had only been a little over a week. He felt like it might be too soon to start talking about living together.

She set the tea kettle down and leaned into him. Lifting her arms and reaching behind her to twine her fingers into his hair. He rubbed her stomach, his hands sliding up under her shirt. Moving in slow circles up over her rib cage to cup her full breasts. She arched her back, pressing her ass into him and pulling him closer. Then she was spinning in his arms, so she could press her mouth to his. He was so eager for her. Which surprised him a little. They had already made love twice earlier in the day. Once when they woke up this morning. And again after lunch. Out behind one of the barns. They had come out trying to act all nonchalant and everyone had just laughed at them and the hay they both had in their hair.

If he added up all the times he had sex in the last week, Rick was willing to bet it was more times than he had sex with Lori in the whole last year they were married. The passion between them had been gone for longer than he wanted to admit. He told himself it didn't matter, since they were both dead now anyway. But he really wondered how long Lori and Shane had been carrying on together. He doubted it had only started after the outbreak. The more he thought about it, the more things stood out to him that he realized he had been blind to before.

"Where'd you go?," Roberta asked him softly. It was a habit of Rick's. He was there, present in the moment. But sometimes he would slip away and she would see his eyes go blank. They all had their demons. Her included. That was just his way of dealing.

"Nowhere," he said. His eyes were focused again. On her. He slid one arm around her, resting his hand on the curve of her lower back to he could pull her hips flush against his. The other hand was still roaming around under her shirt. Cupping one breast, his thumb moving in a slow circle around her nipple. She pressed her mouth to his again, parting his lips with her tounge.

Some loud stomping on the steps outside brought the kissing to a hault. And a few seconds later the door was flung open so hard that the doorknob slammed against the wall inside and left a dent. Addy marched in, grabbed the door and slammed it shut just as hard as she had opened it.

"I fucking hate men!," she cursed. Then she stomped into her room. Rick could hear the woman rustling around in there. He was trying not to start laughing. Laughing would not be good right now.

"Tell us how you really feel," Roberta remarked. That made Rick lose his cool. He leaned his head into her shoulder and just let the laughter come. It felt damn good to laugh again. Addy came stomping back out with her robe and towel over one arm. She stopped and stared at him like she had not noticed before that he was there.

"Your friend is an ass," she informed him with a point of her finger. Rick just stared at her. Whatever Daryl had done to piss Addy off, he didn't want any part of it.

Addy did not stay to explain. She just huffed herself back out of the cabin and headed off to take a long hot shower. Then she was going to have a smoke and go to bed. Rick was hoping he and Roberta could pick up where they left off, but a few minutes later, Cassandra came home. She was still interrupting them, but at least she was in a better mood than Addy.

"Hey Bertie!," she called out. She turned and motioned to someone that was coming up the steps behind her. Rick was surprised to see a young scruffy looking blonde man come in behind her. "This is Mac," she said, "new recruit from seaside." Rick had no idea what she was talking about. As usual. But he figured Roberta would fill him in later. The man smiled and lifted his hand at them. He looked a little overwhelmed. Rick remembered how he felt arriving at this place. It was not only just how many people were here. So many of them were women. He smiled back at the guy.

"He sort of got lost in the shuffle, so I told him he could couch it here tonight. Tomorrow we can find a better place for him," Cassandra said. Roberta nodded her understanding. Some people could not hack it at seaside. She could only handle about one or two nights out there before she started to get sick. And that was on the big boat, which was a lot more steady in the water. The only ones brave enough to go out on the little sailboats were Katie and Lexi. And even they would only go on short rides. Sharks and whales and giant squid. No thank you.

"Hi Mac," Roberta said, "I'm Roberta, this is Rick." The kid gave them both a nod and set his small bag down near the couch. "What's the matter with Addy?," Roberta asked Cassandra.

"Her lover boy brought back a present for someone else," Cassandra said. It was clear from her tone that she thought the whole thing was funny.

"Who?," Rick asked. The thought of Daryl getting a present for anyone that wasn't a punch in the mouth resulted in an odd mental image. And Rick had no idea of who the man would have gotten something for.

"It was for Beth, the Vet's daughter," Cassandra informed him. "He brought her back a guitar." That made Rick smile. Daryl tried to act like he hated everything, but Rick knew he was partial to Beth's singing. "It really seemed like he was just being nice," Cassandra added, "Addy is being a bit of a brat about it, in my opinion." Daryl and Beth were from the same group. And they had all seemed pretty close. It wasn't like he was even being sneaky about it. He had given the guitar to her right in front of Addy. Cassandra shrugged. That's why she didn't do men. Every time a penis went into you, it took a piece of your sanity.

Cassandra got her stuff. And an extra towel for Mac. Then the two of them took off down to the showers, Mac trailing after Cassandra like a little puppy dog. Rick leaned in a gave Roberta a kiss. Just a soft little peck this time.

"Maybe we should go to my place tonight?," he suggested.


	32. Chapter 32

The Lady Claimers

Chapter 32

"Don't you wake that baby up trying to take him home," Katie's grandmother told her in a loud whisper from the doorway, "you let'im sleep and he can come home in the mornin'."

Katie leaned down and ran her hand softly through her son's hair. She stroked the pad of her thumb back and forth across the soft round curve of his cheek. Then she leaned down to kiss him, smiling at the spiderman bandaid stuck above his lip like a multicolored mustache. When she stood up, her gran was gone from the doorway, leaving only Merle's large frame leaning against the other side of the doorframe.

She padded carefully across the room, avoiding the toys that were strew about so she didn't trip on one and break her neck. The trading run had gone well. Better than expected. She was beyond happy for her gran. If anyone deserved love and happiness it was the woman that took care of everyone in this place. And by extension, Katie was happy for herself. Her family was growing. Getting bigger everyday instead of smaller. She had gotten to know Beth and Hershel fairly well, but she made herself a mental note to try and spend some more time with Maggie. They were going to be sisters, but it would be even better if they could be friends too.

Katie melted into Merle's arms, feeling contented. She laid her head on his chest, hugging him around the waist.

"Sorry 'bout yer kids face," he whispered, resting his chin on the top of her head.

"I'm sorry he was so naughty when you tried to take him fishing," Katie mumbled back. At least Bash hooked himself this time instead of someone else. Maybe that would teach him to listen when someone told him to stop doing something that was potentially harmful. She doubted it. But anything was possible. And she thought the idea of her small son and Merle fishing together was just about the cutest and sweetest thing she had ever heard in her life. She was mostly sad she had missed out on seeing it. Just another reason she didn't want to be out on the road all the time anymore.

"Thought you were gone cut my damn balls off fer that one," he admitted. Katie giggled and snuggled in closer to him, tilting her head back so she could nuzzle into his neck and kiss him. Her hair smelled like peaches, and she looked rough and sexy in the clothes she had been wearing while she was on the road. She swiveled her hips, grinding against the part of him that was swelling and getting harder inside his pants.

"Let's go home," he said. Merle had a deep voice, but whenever they were starting to get dirty with each other it always got just a little bit deeper. Katie thought of it as his bedroom voice and the sound of it sent a little shiver up her back. Plus she liked how he had used the word home instead of saying back to the house or back to your place. She pulled back and caught him by the hand. Then headed down the hall and through the main living room area.

There were a lot of young people still hanging around since movie night had just finished up. Katie wasn't paying them much attention until she heard her name called. It was the two girls they had taken from Joe and his disgusting followers. Kristin and Janelle. Katie stopped when she saw who was with them. Would you look at who finally decided to leave her house and stop driving her father crazy?

"Hi Taylor," Katie called out, waving at the girl. Taylor had her baby in her arms, nursing him while she played a board game with the other girls. She waved back and then returned to the game. Merle had his good arm wrapped around Katie's waist, but he gave the girls a little wave with his arm piece. Several of them laughed but the tall one who's hair was finally growing back turned pink in her face.

"Hey there Kristin," he called over, making her turn even redder. This set the other girls off into a whirl of giggles. Merle thought that girl was funny. While Katie and Daryl had been gone, she had come to sit with him at breakfast. She wouldn't say much, she just asked if she could sit at his table and then picked at her food with her red blushing face.

Kristin could feel her face getting hot. She grabbed for her iced tea and took a few gulps. Then she got up from the table, telling everyone she had to pee. Really she just needed to get outside and cool her face off. The other girls laughed, but she knew the laughter was meant in a friendly way, not to make fun. Taylor and Janelle would stay up giggling about it with her later on tonight while Taylor's father tried to hush them up so he could get some sleep.

Her parents were dead. And there were some days that Kristin missed them so much that it physically hurt. But she was getting used to her new life here. She loved the girls she lived with. Taylor's little brother had become like a little brother to her. And Rich, Taylor's father treated them all like they were his to take care of. He was a very kind man.

Maria, that pretty hispanic woman with the cute pregnant stomach held a counseling group twice a week for the girls that needed someone to talk to about their sexual assaults. Taylor liked to go there. She had been shocked to learn that the group was something that he been going on here for years before the turn. For some of the woman, especially those from other countries, this new world was nothing new at all for them. Kristin felt good when she listened to their stories. Almost all the woman here had a story. Many were similar to her own. Even Katie came one day and talked a little about what happened to her. She had said something when she got finished with her story that stuck in Kristin's mind. _Sex is a normal, healthy part of life. I wasn't going to let some asshole ruin that for me._

Those words stuck in Kristin's mind. She found herself thinking about them late at night when Janelle was snoring softly in bed next to her. After that she started actively watching the couples that lived in this place. Her favorite people to watch were Katie and Merle. She wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because he looked like the sort of man that might do to someone what those men did to her.

She watched the way they kissed each other. The way he touched and held the woman. It was obvious that Katie was not being hurt or forced. If anything. she often appeared to be the more aggressive one out of the two of them. Once Kristin saw her smack Merle hard on the ass and pull him into a supply closet. She had not been able to see what happened inside, but she heard them. They made a lot of noise and came out a few minutes later kissing and laughing.

Kristin didn't really need to pee. So she leaned against the side of the outhouse and pressed her palms to her warm face. A few moments later she heard their voices. She peeked around the side of the small structure to get a look at them. She was being careful not to be caught spying, but Kristin realized quickly that she didn't need to be too mindful. They only had eyes for each other. Katie was laughing and rubbing her hand over the obvious buldge in Merle's pants. He was saying something to the woman that Kristin couldn't hear and trying to kiss her.

"Let's walk over to the greenhouse," Katie suggested. Merle caught her by the wrist and pushed her hand away from his pants, telling her he wasn't going to make it there if she didn't stop. Kristin wasn't really sure what that part meant. And she was surprised he stopped the woman from touching him. She thought men liked to be touched. Especially down there. They started heading for the greenhouse, playing and grabbing at each other. Kristin turned to head back inside the house, but then she changed her mind and went after them. She knew watching people when they thought they were alone was wrong. Maybe sort of perverted too. But she wanted to see what was going to happen. More than that, she almost felt like she needed to see.

She stayed far enough back that she wasn't right on top of them. Not that they would have noticed if she was. They were barely even watching where they were going. Katie tripped over a rake someone left out and Merle caught her by the arm so she wouldn't fall down. They went into one of the smaller greehouses, which was still pretty large. This one was also used as a butterfly breeding garden. So there were a lot of flowers inside. The ones the girls grew and then planted all over the property to feed the bees. There was also places to sit down. A few metal benches and one larger cushioned sun chair. The kind that leaned back flat so you could lie down on it. Katie's uncle Tom liked to say he was going to tend the flowers and then take a nap on that chair instead. Kristin guessed that was where they were heading.

Kristin was too nervous to actually follow them inside. So she crept around the side of the place and peeked in one of the large glass windows. There were a few plants in her way, but she still had a good view of what was going on. They did head for the chair that Kristin guessed they would. When they got there they kissed each other a while, pulling at each other's clothes. Katie pushed Merle back and yanked her shirt and her tank top off over her head. She pulled her bra off next, dropping it on the ground next to them. While she was doing that, Merle leaned down and plucked a little pink flower off a nearby plant, offering it to her. Katie took it, holding it to her nose to smell it and then tucking it behind her ear. She kissed him again, and then she knelt down in front of him.

She pulled his pants down and scrunched them up around his ankles, smiling up at him. Kristin could see all of him now. She thought she ought to be grossed out, but instead she shifted her weight to get a better look. Katie pressed her lips to the tip of his erection, like she was giving him a little kiss. He seemed to like that too. His eyes went shut and his leaned his head back, his tounge flicking out to wet his lips. Katie took him in her mouth, sucking at him like he tasted good to her. Kristin found herself wondering if liking a boy would make him taste better.

When Merle's hand moved down and brushed over the top of Katie's head, Kristin felt a little moment of panic and fear for the woman. She half expected him to grip Katie's hair and push painfully inside her mouth like those men had done to her. But instead he moved his hand lower and caught Katie by the arm, pulling her to her feet so he could kiss her again. Things went quickly after that. They both yanked the rest of their clothes off and got on the little padded chair together. He was on top of her for a while and then they rolled around and Katie got on top of him, her hands resting on his chest as she rocked her hips back and forth in a rhythmic motion. Once she collapsed on his chest, Kristin figured she had seen all there was to see. Or as much as she could see without risking being seen.

She pulled herself to her feet and started walking without any particular destination in mind, thinking about what she had just seen. Kristin stayed to the side once she hit the main drive. People were still coming through on the golf carts and it was starting to get really dark out now. She didn't want to get hit. There were some voices coming from the road that led down to the stables. Kristin heard her name called out. When she turned she saw Katie's twin brothers and a couple of the other boys that lived with them out at the big cabin on the edge of the property walking in her direction.

"Hey Kristin!" One of the twins was calling and waving at her, she wasn't sure which one. She stopped and waited for them to catch up to her.

"Getting dark," the one twin said, "want us to walk you home?" Kristin smiled. She knew it was strange for her to be out by herself. Normally, she didn't go anywhere without Janelle or one of the other girls. Because she was afraid. And a few weeks ago, if she had seen this rowdy crowd of boys coming at her, she would have run the other way in a hurry.

"I'm okay," she assured them, "y'all going home to go to sleep?" The other twin shrugged.

"Hex said for us to go home, we were being too noisy up by the barn. But we are probably going to sit up and listen to music a while," another boy added. He was a little younger than the twins, and hispanic. Maria's little brother. Kristin tried to remember, but his name wasn't coming to mind.

"Jose," he offered with a smile, like he knew what she was thinking. "You can come with us if you want," he offered. The twins nodded in agreement. Gannon knew this was one of the girls that Katie said they needed to give some space to. But that didn't mean they couldn't invite her somewhere if she wanted to go.

Kristin shifted her weight from one foot to the other, thinking about the offer for a moment. She felt like she ought to be afraid to go somewhere with a bunch of boys. And she really felt like she ought to be afraid to go out to their cabin on the edge of the property where no one would hear her if she screamed. But she wasn't. Instead she was looking at the way that Katie's one brother's hair fell down into his eyes and how he ought to cut it shorter so everyone could see how blue his eyes were. He was cute. She thought about what it might be like to kiss him the way Katie was kissing Merle back in the butterfly garden.

"I'll drive you home in a cart if you get tired," the other twin offered. Before she could overthink things, Kristin nodded her head.

"Thanks, I think I would like that," she said.

TWD

Beth woke up early. She was still living up at the main house, close to her dad. But she was thinking about taking up an offer she had recieved to move in with Hex so she could be closer to the barn. Plus she thought it might not be the worst idea to give her father a little more privacy. She liked the woman he was going to marry very much. But that didn't mean she wanted to see them kissing in their bathrobes as they were going in to the bathroom to shower together.

She grabbed a piece of fruit from a bowl on the table and ate it while she walked down to the barn. Beth hummed along to a tune that she had stuck in her head, thinking about how she finally might be able to work the song out now that she had a guitar. She was also thinking she ought to think of something nice to do for Daryl. To sort of repay him for getting her the guitar. But she wasn't really sure what he liked. Other than hunting animals and smoking. She thought Maggie or Glenn might have some ideas. She would try and remember to ask them while they were feeding the horses.

"A present for Daryl?," Glenn asked. He set down the bucket he was scooping grain for the horses into, lifting his hat off his head and scratching at an itchy spot on his scalp. Glenn felt like they all knew each other pretty well. They were practically family. But he had no idea what Daryl would want to get for a present. "I got nothing," Glenn admitted. Maggie laughed.

"You could bake him something...," Maggie suggested. Daryl was always hungry. Beth wrinkled up her nose. She had already thought of that. But Daryl lived with Katie and Maria. They were already always making something. Plus down at the community kitchen and up at the main house there was always a ton of food. Bread, muffins and pies, plus cookies and stuff for the kids. He liked Katie's brownies best. The ones with the pot in them. And Beth had no idea where to even begin trying to make something like that.

"What about another tattoo?," Hex offered up from the next stall over. She had seen at least one on the man, on the inside of his right arm. And when people had one, they usually wanted more.

"I don't know how to do a tattoo," Beth told the woman.

"No but you know how to draw don't ya?," she asked. Beth nodded. "Draw something up and Angel can put it on for him. You know the big mexican guy that hangs around with Uncle Tommy. He did the one on my shoulder." Hex pulled the strap of her tank top to the side and let Beth take a look. She didn't know much about tattoos, but it looked good to her. A pretty circular design with lots of little interlocking patterns. "Angel would do it for him anyway, but I bet he would be even more willing if you could get Maria to cook him some of her carnitas," Hex suggested. Maria worked in the infirmary with her dad, so Beth was familiar with her. She would feel a lot more comfortable asking Maria for a favor than some guy she barely knew. She could even offer to take one of Maria's shifts in the infirmary, since her dad was halfway done training her already.

"That's a really good idea," Beth said, smiling at the other woman, "thanks!"

TWD

Daryl had big plans for the morning. They mostly involved sleeping in. Maybe getting up to eat. And then sleeping some more. He made it to about the eating part when Maria came home to get a few cases of canning jars. Daryl took the heavy boxes from her and walked down to the big kitchen with her waddling along next to him.

He had never seen so many people in the kitchen at one time. Maria explained that it was all hands on deck since they had twelve bushels of peaches, cases of cherries and two freezers full of seafood that needed to get put up before they went bad. Plus all the normal daily chores still needed to be done. Dinner had to get cooked. And plus the daily haul of vegetables that came in around this time of year needed to be dealt with. And towards the back of the place, he could see a giant sambuck deer hanging from a meat hook. Those things weighed as much as three deer put together. Just processing that was a three day chore in itself. He never realized how much work it was keeping so many people fed.

Katie waved when she saw him, rushing over to knock a little kiss on his cheek. Then laughing when he made a face at her like his mom was kissing him in front of his friends at the bus stop.

"You're a godsend," she gushed, "can you help out with that big deer. Your brother took the twins out hunting this morning." Daryl thought about asking her where in the fuck Merle was and why didn't he butcher up his own damn deer, but then he spotted the man coming out of a back closet with a big plastic apron on. There went that excuse.

"Sure," he said. He figured if Merle could lower himself to working in the kitchen, then he might as well do his part. Katie smiled at him, then spun and took off skating through the kitchen to stop her son from doing whatever form of destruction the boy had set his sights on. It looked like he was slamming a potato masher into a bowl. Daryl wasn't sure what was in the bowl, but he guessed maybe raspberries. Red juice was splashing up onto the boy's face and making him look like a psycho serial killer. _Bash. Bash. Bash. BASH!_ The chanting wasn't helping. People were chuckling and Daryl heard someone suggest that Katie ought to give her son a rolling pin and let him knead the bread. Daryl held back a laugh, thinking the last fucking thing that kid needed in his hands was a giant wooden rolling pin.

Daryl weaved his way through the kitchen. He saw Addy looking up from whatever she was doing and was watching him. When their eyes met she quickly looked down and made it a point to ignore him. _Well I guess she's still pissed. Oh well._ Daryl hadn't even really done anything to the woman. And nothing he felt he needed to apologize for. So he figured she would either get over it or she wouldn't.

Once he got towards the back of the kitchen, Daryl was grateful to see that he and Merle were not the only men here. Martinez was making salsa. A few different kinds that they were going to be having with dinner later. Rich was peeling peaches with his son and Carl. Daryl smiled at the boy. He felt like it had been a long time since he had seen him. Lexi was peeling away at the same table with them and Daryl noticed her and Carl were working close together. If the boy decided he wanted Lexi for his girlfriend, he was in for a rude awakening in more ways than one. Daryl didn't exactly make it a habit of getting up in other people's business, but he had seen her out on the road. To put it less than politely, she was a bit of a slut.

Morgan was suited up in a plastic apron like the one Merle was wearing. Daryl wasn't sure if the man knew what he was doing when it came to butchering deer, but it looked like they were going to find out. Merle pointed him in the right direction and Daryl reluctantly pulled on an apron. He would rather just wash his clothes and shower when he got done, but it wouldn't hurt to try and be cleaner about it. He and Merle had done this many times together. But with one missing hand and a much larger than normal sized deer, after a few minutes they were already glad for Morgan's help.

The choice parts they were going to have for dinner tonight. The legs were getting smoked into jerky. And the rest was getting sliced up so the girls could can it for stew meat. They were about a quarter of the way through when Daryl heard someone calling his name.

"I've been looking everywhere for you," Beth told him, her words coming out breathy like she just ran a five mile marathon. He was immediately concerned.

"Somethin' wrong?," he asked. Beth shook her head, gulping in air and trying to slow her breathing down so she didn't look like a total crazy person.

"No, no," she said, "I got somethin' for you." She pulled a sheet of paper out of her notebook and held it up for his inspection. Then she explained. She wanted to thank him for the guitar. So she got some guy to agree to give him a tattoo. And she had even drawn something for him. Well she had actually drawn it back at the prison, but she remembered she had it and thought he might like it.

"If you don't like it I can draw you something else," she said for about the third time. Daryl looked the drawing over. It was like a sort of artsy drawing of his crossbow. Merle had wandered over by this time to throw his loud opinion in where it wasn't wanted. He intended on insulting the girl, maybe giving her some shit. But the drawing was actually pretty good.

"Not bad," he said, bobbing his head, "Look good on yer other arm. Ya wanted one there." Daryl nodded. Beth smiled so big at Merle he was almost glad he had said something nice. She was a pretty little thing. Flat as a board. But pretty.

"Keep it in yer notebook for now okay?," Daryl suggested, holding up his hands to show her they were covered in deer blood and muck.

"Maybe you can draw me something next?," Morgan asked, having also gotten a peek at the drawing over Daryl's shoulder. He had a few tattoos, but nothing that looked that good. Beth nodded and smiled even bigger.

"Why don't you put that up and help us out with this 'ere deer," Merle suggested. When Beth made a face like she wasn't so sure how much help she would be, he told her all she had to do was cut the bigger pieces down into slices and pound them flat for jerky. She nodded and took off through the kitchen to put her notebook away. There was a glove box in the little golf cart she drive over in. She figured she could stuff it in there for now and put it away in her room later.

As she walked through, trying to avoid getting in the way of the people that were working, Addy stepped out and her shoulder slammed into Beth's. It knocked her back a few steps and she bumped into Carol's back. At first she thought it was an accident, but then she saw the smug smirk on the other woman's face. She had done that on purpose. Beth lifted her hand, holding up her middle finger at the other girl.

Addy was surprised. She had not expected little Miss Prim and Proper to fight back. And she had certainly not expected the bird to get flipped in her face.

"Fuck you too bitch," Addy told her.

By this time, most of the people in the kitchen had stopped what they were doing to stare at the two girls. Merle had a big grin on his face and he was elbowing his brother in the ribs. Daryl was shoving him away. He had a feeling this fight had something to do with him, but he wasn't really sure what to do about it.

'You're the bitch," Beth informed the other girl. She had been through hell. Sleeping in a car. Living in a prison. Fighting off walkers and humans alike. She was not afraid of Daryl's jealous girlfriend. Even if the girl was a lot bigger and probably better at fighting than she was.

Addy moved forward, shoving at Beth and smacking the notebook of drawings out of her hands. Then suddenly she was backing away with hers hands in the air. Carol had the knife she had been using to chop up cherries in her hand pointing it at the other girl.

"Don't you touch her!," Carol warned the girl. She moved in a little closer with the knife, "Back off!" Carol had her fill of these little bossy sluts. This one in particular annoyed her more than the rest of them.

Katie was watching the little scene between Addy and Beth, curious to see how it was going to pan out. But when Carol moved in her eyes flew open. She had not been expecting that shit. Arguing was okay. A little pushing and shoving was against the rules but she was going to let it slide. Mostly because she wanted to see what Beth was made of. But threatening someone with a large kitchen knife was most definitely not okay. That was against all the rules.

"Whoa," she hollered. She grabbed her son, shoving him at Maria. Using the toe of one foot she hiked it and jumped over the counter that was seperating her from the fight. The other women in the kitchen slid back against the counters, making room for her to pass. She saw Andrea was coming from the other direction, hopefully to grab her crazy knife weilding friend before Addy got stabbed.

Katie grabbed for Addy, dragging her back and moving her body in front of the girl. She pointed her finger at Carol.

"Enough," she told the woman, "She got the point." Carol did not set the knife down, but she did move back and lower her hand. Katie felt safe enough to turn her back on the woman. Which was good, because she needed to deal with Addy. Katie pushed at her, walking her through the kitchen and straight out the door. Once they were outside she let go of her friend.

"Go take a fucking walk and cool your ass off Addy!," she hollered. Then she pointed towards the path that would lead Addy back to the orchards.

"Fuck that little bitch," Addy yelled, "you're taking her side over mine? Really?" Tears were starting to pool up in her eyes. Katie knew she was hurting. And she felt bad for the woman. But Addy couldn't go around attacking every random woman that tried to talk to Daryl. From what Katie had seen, him and Beth were just friends. And even if Beth liked Daryl, there was no reason for Addy to go for her like that.

"I'm not taking sides, but you have got to calm down," Katie said back. She saw Cassandra walking up from the main house. She had that new kid with her. The one they picked up from Seaside with the scruffy blonde hair. He stopped walking and started staring when he saw her and Addy were fighting. Then Addy turned enough so that he could see she was crying.

"Hey," he said, the concern obvious in his voice, "are you alright?" He walked towards them, placing a comforting hand on Addy's back. She shrugged him off, insisting she was fine. Then she turned and stomped off in the direction Katie had indicated. The boy watched her go, looking like he wanted to follow after her.

"She's pretty upset," Katie told him, "maybe you should follow her and make sure she's alright." That was all the encouragement the man needed. He took off running after Addy, tripping on a tree root and almost falling. Katie waited until he was gone before she started laughing.

"What was that about," Cassandra asked. Katie raised her eyebrows and gave her a knowing look. "Let me guess," Cassandra said, "Daryl?" Katie nodded.

"Beth drew him a picture or some shit so Addy decided to have a go at her," Katie said. Hopefully the fight was over. But she was going to make sure they both got assigned to jobs far away from each other for a while just in case. "Oh yeah," Katie added, "that Carol lady whipped a knife off the counter and threatened Addy with it a little. It was fucking crazy." Cassandra laughed at her friend's explanation of the events. Katie laughed with her and then sighed. She turned and headed back into the kitchen.

People had gone back to work, but she noticed most of them were making an effort to stay far away from Carol. All except for Andrea, who looked like she was sticking close in case Carol tried anything else. Katie went over to Beth first, making sure the girl was alright. She was slicing up a big chunk of venison, looking like she had already forgotten the incident. Merle was having a good laugh over the whole thing, making occasional cat noises in Beth's general direction. Katie thought about telling him to shut his fat pie hole, but decided that the attention would probably just make him carry on even louder.

Skirting around the back counter, Katie headed down the where Carol was standing. She still had the knife in her hand, but she had gone back to chopping up fruit for the jam they were making. Katie leaned back, resting both her elbows on the countertop behind her. She stared Carol down for a while. The other woman was trying her best to ignore her, but that was pretty hard since Katie was standing almost right up in her face.

"What?," Carol finally asked her.

"I was just thinking," Katie told her. She was obviously waiting until Carol decided to give her full attention to what she was going to say. So Carol set the knife down on the counter and wiped her hands off on her apron.

"What?," she asked again, crossing her arms under her breasts. Katie smiled at her. A big toothy grin. And what was even weirder was it didn't look fake or forced. It crossed Carol's mind that Katie and Daryl's brother were perfect for each other. Both of them were scarier when they were smiling.

"I think having you on kitchen duty might just be the most horrible waste of talent I have ever seen," Katie announced. There was some assorted laughter from the rest of the kitchen at that comment. Katie exchanged glances with Andrea, who gave Katie a nod of her head. Carol narrowed her eyes at both women. She figured she might get in a little trouble for waving that knife around, but now she was starting to get freaked out. Andrea and Katie were grinning like a couple of cheshire cats. When it seemed like they were just going to stand there staring at her forever, finally Andrea stuck her hand out like she wanted to shake on something.

"Welcome to my new trade run team," she told Carol. Carol stared at the woman. Trying to figure out if she was serious. Andrea nodded and stuck her hand closer. Finally Carol shook it, resulting in some cheering and clapping from the rest of the kitchen.

"Hey Katie," Merle hollered. She huffed and turned around to see what he wanted. "If I stab someone can I get out of working in the fuckin' kitchen too?" Everyone started laughing at that, none louder than Merle, who of course found himself to be totally hilarious.

Katie shook her head. _What a loudmouth dick he is today._ She spotted an overripe peach that someone had set aside to be tossed in the compost pile later. Katie grabbed the mushy fruit, taking careful aim. Either Merle didn't think she was really going to throw the peach at him, or he was too busy laughing at himself to notice what she was doing. Because he didn't even bother to duck out of the way. Daryl, on the other hand, cleared the fucking area, dragging Beth along with him.

The fruit hit Merle square between the eyes with a nasty splat. There was a moment of silence in the kitchen, everyone unsure if they should laugh or be afraid. But Katie's son knew what had happened. He climbed out of Maria's arms and up onto the counter so he could point at the man who was now trying to wipe sticky half rotten peach juice off his face.

"BASH!," he cried, "Momma BASH!" With that everyone started laughing. Merle wiped his face with a towel and weaved through the kitchen to seize the little monster. Once he picked the boy up, Merle recieved a hard fist bonk on the top of his head for his efforts. He leaned in close and whispered to the boy, bracing himself in case the little shit went for him again.

"Lets go get yer mom."


	33. Chapter 33

The Lady Claimers

Chapter 33

Addy pushed herself up off the ground and stuffed her boobs back into her bra. She pulled her shirt down in a hurry and snatched her underwear up off the ground, trying to ignore the man on the ground next to her feet that was smiling up at her. His blonde hair was ruffled up more than it had been before their little romp. He had a few days worth of soft beard on his face, which was a darker blonde than the hair on his head. And he was looking at her with such a sweet little grin on his face. Like he was already half in love with her on top of his after sex glow. She would have given just about everything she had to see Daryl look at her that way after sex.

He had tucked himself back into his pants, but not bothered to put his shirt back on. Mack just stayed where he was lying, in the soft grass under an apple tree with his arms tucked under his head. He would have been happy if Addy stayed and laid with him a while. Maybe cuddle and talk a while. But the second they got finished, she had immediately leaped up and started grabbing for her clothes.

Mack watched her, enjoying the view. Not that he had much basis for comparison, but she was hands down the best looking girl he had ever been with. He liked her style too. Her long red hair was twined up into dreads that hung down her back. There were little silver charms twined into them. She was wearing fitted jeans that were frayed and ripped in spots with a tight black tank top. A silver necklace with a butterfly charm on it hung down into her cleavage.

She had a killer body. Hard and muscular but still soft in all the right spots. Nice thick thighs that he had grabbed while she rode him. He thought Addy was beautiful and dangerous looking at the same time. Exciting. When he had met the group of girls from the bus she had stuck out to him right away. The best looking woman out of that bunch. He had seen the man she seemed to be attached to and figured he had absolutely no chance with her. Now he felt like the luckiest man alive.

"Want to have dinner together tonight?," he asked. Addy ignored him, yanking the zipper on her pants up and strapping her knife back onto her belt. When she reached down to grab for one of her boots, the boy caught her by the wrist.

"Hey?," he asked, "what's wrong?" He was pretty sure she had enjoyed what just happened, in fact she had been the one that started it. Crying into his chest and then tilting her head back and kissing him. Now she was acting angry and upset, like he had forced her or something. It made him feel uneasy.

"Nothing," she barked, "I just have shit to do today." She stuffed her feet into her boots and knelt down to tighten the laces up. "Make sure you talk to Cassandra about finding you somewhere else to stay. You can't keep sleeping on our couch." Addy saw the disappointment in his face. She had hurt his feelings. Well tough shit.

"Did I do something wrong?," he asked her. Mack pushed himself up into a sitting position, leaning back on his hands. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

Addy stopped tying her boots. She looked at the young man in front of her. The expression on his face was so sad and regretful. He was so sincere. Great. Now she felt even worse than she had before.

"You didn't hurt me," she told him. She sighed and tossed her long hair back over her shoulders. "Look. It's nothing personal. I just have a boyfriend. So this can't happen again." Mack still looked sad and hurt, but at least he didn't look scared anymore.

"Are you sure he's your boyfriend?," Mack asked her. He had seen them cuddling up together on the bus. But he had also seen Daryl give a present to another girl. And then he had seen Addy storm off upset. Mack had been expecting the man to go after her, but he had just shrugged her off like he couldn't care less. Then later, when he was sleeping on the couch in their cabin, Mack had heard Addy crying in her room. That man didn't seem like much of a boyfriend.

"You don't know shit," Addy informed him, pointing her finger at him. Her voice was angry, but her eyes were sad, like they were ready to fill up and spill over. Mack grabbed for her hand again. She tried to yank it back but this time he held on tight.

"I didn't mean it like that," he said, "I just mean... " He paused, trying to find the words. "I just like you, that's all. Maybe we should stick together." She was so tough and brave. He wanted her for more than just sex, he wanted her for a partner. Someone to navigate this crazy new world with. No one could get by alone anymore. Addy pulled her hand back again, and this time he let her go. She didn't respond to what he had said to her, instead she got up and started walking away. Mack watched her go, not failing to notice that she stopped at the edge of the thick row of trees and looked back at him before she continued on her way.

TWD

The day had been long and it was sweltering hot inside the large kitchen even with all the fans going. People started to clear up the tasks they were working on so they could go to dinner or head home to shower before dinner. Carol stayed. She was halfway through a batch of jam and she wanted to finish it up before she left. Andrea gave her a light punch on the arm as she headed out, while Beth wrapped her up into a quick embrace.

Soon she found herself alone in the kitchen with Rich. She knew who he was. His daughter was the one that just had a baby. He lived next door to Rick with his kids and the two girls they had picked up shortly after they left the prison. Right now, he was washing up the dishes that had been left behind in the large steel utility sink. Carol had been surprised when he offered to take care of them. Most of the men around this place seemed to be more interested in getting high or poking around out in the woods than they were in doing any real work.

Once he finished up, Carol expected the man to leave. Instead he walked in her direction and used his big hands to boost himself up on the counter. He even smiled at her. Carol regarded him with a suspicious glance. He was a good looking man. Strong and tan with a thick head of silver hair that was almost white from all the time he spent outside in the sun. He had tried a few times before to talk to her.

Carol wished he would just say what the hell he wanted. He had to want something. There was no way he was only looking for the pleasure of her company. She hadn't even been very nice to him.

"Addy's face was pretty priceless earlier," he said. Carol give a slight dip of her head, ignoring his warm smile. She didn't respond. So he tried another tactic.

"What did you do before the outbreak?," he asked her. Carol stopped what she was doing and turned to stare at him. Was this guy really trying to small talk her?

"What do you want?," she asked him, her words coming out more harsh than she intended. He smiled again and threw his hands up in the air like he was surrendering.

"Just trying to get to know you better," he explained. Carol narrowed her eyes at him, trying to figure out what sort of a game this man was playing with her.

"Why?" Why would he want to get to know her better? He was either blind or retarded, not to see that there were plenty of younger, more attractive woman around. Why wasn't he trying to get to know any of them better? She was convinced he must have some alterior motive.

"Why not?," he asked. He was back to grinning at her now. Showing his straight even line of teeth in the front and the hole on the side of his mouth where a few of them had been knocked out. He liked Carol. Since she arrived, he had been watching her. The woman was quiet and serious. She was always listening, aware of what was going on. Rick had told him that she lost her daughter during one of their morning coffees on his porch. So they had that in common.

Rich wasn't blind. He knew there were plenty of young single women in this camp. But he already had his kids and two other girls to look after. Plus Taylor's baby. He didn't want his partner to be another child that he had to take care of. He wanted a woman.

Carol didn't say anything in response to his last comment. She just took her jam off the burner and started scooping it out into the jars she had ready for it. Trying to ignore him. She had not responded to his attempts at small talk, so he decided to try another approach.

"I heard you lost your daughter," he said. He knew it wasn't the best topic to open up a conversation with, but at least she wasn't ignoring him anymore.

"What do you think you know about that?," Carol asked him. Her tone wasn't as confident as it had been a few moments before. He stopped smiling. He admitted that Rick had told him about Sophia when Rich started asking him questions about Carol. Then he told her about his other daughter. Sara. The one that was older than Taylor. He had her with his first wife, before he married Taylor and Troy's mother. That night. When those men came. Sara had fought the second one off and made a run for it. Once the men left them for dead, he had stayed at the camp, hoping Sara would find her way back. He and Taylor were so beaten up, they didn't have much choice.

Katie and Roberta found them a few days later. They saw the smoke from their campfire and followed it. If it wasn't for them he knew he and his children would be dead. He told them about his other daughter. And they had been kind enough to spend two whole days looking for her. But they never found her. She was just gone. Everytime a call came in from one of the survivor outposts, he said a silent prayer. That it might be her. But it never was. It had been almost a year now. But he had not been able to allow himself to give up hope.

"At least you know," he said. Carol nodded her head. She had tried not to like this man, but his story had gotten under her skin. She remembered that time. When they were searching for Sophia. Not knowing if she was dead or alive or hurt somewhere and wishing her mom was there to help her. Not knowing if she was hungry, scared, or being hurt by some bad person out there that might have found her. Losing her for good had been terrible, but it had at least given her some release. The things she had imagined happening to her daughter were so much worse than death.

He gave Carol another smile. This one was more forced. Soft and sad now that he was thinking about his daughter. But for the first time, Carol smiled back at him.

TWD

Katie walked into the main house, holding one hand under the taco she was stuffing into her mouth to catch the bits of food that were falling out the other side. She had come into the house to get a glass of cold milk for her son. But on her way to the ktichen, she noticed Rick leaning over one of the card tables, staring at names on a white board. Katie crammed the rest of her food into her mouth and approached him, talking through her mouthful of shrimp and salsa.

"What ya doin'," she mumbled. Then she wiped her hands on her pants, which made Rick laugh a little. He was doing what Roberta had asked him to do. Looking over the rotation and trying to make up some sort of schedule for Hershel's weddding. Which was the day after tomorrow. No one wanted to miss the event, which was promising to be a good time. But he felt like someone still needed to keep watch. He was ready to take on the chore himself, to keep anyone else from having to miss out, but Roberta wanted him to be her date for the wedding. It felt like it would be their first official date, and he didn't want to miss out on seeing her looking pretty.

"Trying to figure out who to put on watch during the wedding," he said. Katie still made him a little uneasy, but he was getting used to her. Since she found out he was sleeping with her friend, she had stopped giving him such a hard time. Katie looked down at the board, chewing her food in Rick's ear.

"You aren't missing the wedding?," she asked, a little piece of lettuce flinging out of her mouth and landing on his shirt. She brushed it off and tried not to laugh.

"Someone has got to keep watch," Rick said, trying to sound firmer than he felt about the subject. He had been on security duty for two weeks and the most exciting thing he had done so far was try to help Mandy catch a stray dog that happened to wander within sight of the front gate. While Katie and the other girls were gone on their run, one call had come in from a survivor outpost, but by the time they got there, whoever had called was long gone. Roberta told him that happened sometimes. People got spooked and took off, afraid that whoever was coming for them might be trying to lure them into some kind of trap.

"Just make the kids do it," Katie said, her words finally clear now that she had swallowed down the large mouthful of food she had packed into her cheeks. Rick cocked his head to the side, so she figured he was at least interested in the idea. "My brothers and the rest of those little brats can take watch, it's only for one day." Katie waved her hand in a dismissive gesture.

"If they give you any shit 'bout it just threaten to tell Merle on them." Rick grinned a little before he could stop himself. He had heard Daryl's brother complaining about wrangling Katie's brothers and the rest of the little rag tag gang of boys that he had been put in charge of. Grumbling and mumbling that he never signed up to run a day care center.

Katie smiled back at him. Her brothers weren't afraid of Merle, but from what she had seen, they had developed a healthy respect for the man. At least they listened to him better than they had to Rich.

"Come on," Katie said, bumping the back of her hand against his chest, "I got a couple coronas hid in the fridge." Rick shrugged and followed her into the kitchen. She did indeed produce the promised bottles of beer, which were hidden in the very back of the large commercial sized refrigerator behind some large glass jars of fermented pickles and kimchi. She handed the beers to Rick and twisted off the top of the jar of pickles, fishing out a large one and sticking the end of it between her teeth like giant cigar so her hands would be free to grab the milk.

With the giant pickle sticking out of her mouth, Katie poured a glass of milk for her son, unaware of how ridiculous she looked until she heard Rick laughing. He couldn't help it, all he could think of watching the woman walk around the kitchen like that was that he had suddenly stumbled onto the set of a very cheesy porno. Katie took a bite of the pickle and set it on the counter while she put the milk away, trying not to start laughing herself.

There was only one thing left to do, she picked the pickle back up and held it to her mouth, making the most obscene gesture she could think of. Rick managed to get both beers set down on the counter before he dropped them. He leaned forward, laughing so hard his face turned about five different shades of red.

"Katie, what in the hell?" Roberta's voice came from the doorway. She had come in to see if Rick needed help making the watch schedule for during the wedding and found him in the in the kitchen watching Katie perform fellatio on a pickle. The explanation for this was going to be a good one. Rick saw Roberta standing there, but he couldn't stop laughing. He was probably in trouble, but at least now he knew why Merle was constantly following Katie around like a little lost dog.

"What are you looking at?," Katie asked the woman, "you know how much I love sour pickles." That was all she could get out before she collapsed against the counter in a fit of laughter. Roberta shook her head. When she had asked Katie to try and make friends with Rick, this was not exactly what she had in mind, but they did seem to be getting along better. Rick appeared to be more embarrassed and shocked than turned on. He looked like he was trying to offer up some sort of explanation, but he couldn't get it together to stop laughing. Katie recovered before he did.

"Sorry I was walking around with the pickle in my mouth and decided to make a bad joke out of it," she explained. Then she crossed the kitchen and hugged Roberta, lifting up on her tiptoes to give the other woman a quick peck on the lips.

"Did you tell him about the cabin yet?," Katie asked. Her attempt to change the subject was rather obvious, but it still worked. Roberta shook her head. She had been waiting for the right time to bring up the topic and it hadn't happened yet. Honestly she was hoping Rick might suggest them living together and save her the trouble of being the one to broach the subject.

"Cabin?," he asked. Katie scooted away and dug into the fridge, pulling out a third beer for Roberta. She used the bottle opener that was tied to the door of the fridge to open her own beer and then gave her friend a little wink before she took off out of the kitchen with her beer and her pickle in one hand and the glass of milk for Bash in the other. This was not a discussion that she felt she needed to be present for. Roberta shook her head at the other woman's back, a small smirk on her face. She was going to get Katie's ass for this later, bringing the cabin up like that and then taking off. Roberta had been waiting for the right moment to bring that up. And this was not that moment.

"What cabin?," Rick asked. He popped open the other two beers and crossed the kitchen to hand one to Roberta. She had her hair down, just the front of it pulled back away from her face and the tshirt she was wearing was snug, showing off her curvy frame.

"It's nothing," she said, trying to brush it off. He wrapped and arm around her waist and pulled her close, claiming her mouth with his. She kissed him back, but then pulled back a little and took a sip of her beer. He was still looking at her expectantly, waiting for her to explain what Katie was talking about. The mention of a cabin had peaked his interest.

"There's a bigger cabin, over in the other lot. Its older and it needs a little work, but it has five bedrooms and it's own shower. Katie said if we wanted it, she would have her uncle fix it up for us," Roberta finally explained. She sipped her beer and looked down at her feet. In the old world, it would have been way too early to be talking about living together, at least it would be for her anyway. She didn't move in with her husband until after they were married. They had dated for almost two years before that. But in this new world, she felt like the old rules didn't apply. If it didn't work out, it wasn't like she couldn't just move back in with Cassandra and Addy. Or over into Mandy's side of the duplex her and Katie lived in. That room had been offered to her several times, along with a place in the main house if she wanted it.

"Is that what you want?," Rick asked her. She glanced up. His eyes were so blue. They reminded her of clear blue water and she felt like she might drown in them if she looked for too long. She nodded her head. There was no point in playing games. She wanted to live with him. The baby made her a little nervous, but Zara and Selena took good care of the little girl, so she knew she wouldn't be expected to do much. She went to dip her head back down, but he caught he under the chin with the knuckle of one finger.

"I'll need a few weeks off security duty," Rick said, "If we are going to live there, I want to fix the place up myself." He wasn't sure what Roberta wanted. She seemed a little hesitant. But when he said that her face lit up into a beautiful smile. Then she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.

 **** I wasn't originally planning on having Mack in this story but I got so upset when they killed him off on Znation that I had to include him. He and Addy were such a cute couple and he was always a lot more into her than she was into him, so I'm hoping that will play out well with what's going on between her and Daryl. Next up we will have a very awkward family dinner for Glenn and Merle and after that Hershel's wedding :) As always thanks to anyone that took the time to leave a review. ****


	34. Chapter 34

The Lady Claimers

Chapter 34

The warm sun was streaming in through the gap in the curtains. Milton woke up and reached for his glasses. He couldn't see much without them. After rolling around to the other side of the bed he finally located them on top of the bedside table next to an empty wine glass. The other side of the bed was cold. Hex was already long gone. She woke up everyday at what Milton considered to be a rather ungodly hour, so she could get down to the barn and take care of the horses.

Milton was enjoying his new life much more than he ever suspected that he would. When Katie and her group had come to rescue Andrea, he had only left with them because he was afraid of what the governor might do to him if he stayed. He had been terrified the entire bus ride from Woodbury to the compound, not knowing what to expect when he arrived. The first thing that had shocked him was how many women lived in this place. There had to be at least five or ten to every man. Milton wasn't a fool. He knew many men would love to be in that position. But he never had much luck with women. He didn't really understand them. Having so many of them around made him nervous and anxious.

He kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. For something terrible to happen. But so far everything was as it seemed. The work that Katie had asked him to do suited him. He organized all the garden seeds for her and made lists of what they had saved, what they needed to save. Once he was done with that, Milton started to get more involved with organizing the gardens themselves. Katie gave him every book she had on the subject and he spent most of his time pouring over them. Figuring out what to plant where and keeping lists of things that needed to be done. He showed his charts to Katie's sister Mandy and the woman must have been impressed with them. Because after that everyone on the gardening team started asking him for advice on what he thought they should be doing.

For the first time in his life, Milton felt like he had made some friends. He liked Katie's giant red haired uncle a lot. Once Tom found out he had a background in science, he started inviting Milton down to the brewery to help them brew beer and wine. This always involved a lot of necessary taste testing. Which led to lots of story telling. Tom was not someone that Milton ever would have even spoken to back in his old life. But he found he enjoyed the man's brash company. The other men on Tom's work team were much nicer to Milton than he expected. They simply accepted him as just one more member of their large mixed up family. Everyone here had a job to do. And none of them treated him as less of a man because he organized seeds and they built fences, the way some of the men in Woodbury had.

The person he felt most confused about was the woman he was sleeping with. Hex was an attractive woman. But not the sort he was usually attracted to. Milton never got many dates, but the ones he had gone on were always with other educated professionals. He remembered them by the jobs they had, since that was the only subject he had really spoken to them about. One was a college professor that taught history, another was a probate lawyer and the only woman he had ever had any sort of official relationship with was a tax accountant.

None of them had darkly tanned skin from working outside in the sun all day. Or saddle sores and bruises from breaking in and training horses. Those women did not come home smelling like fresh hay with dirt under their fingernails. They did not have tattoos on their collarbones or long dark wavy hair that fell down over their shoulders in a wild unbrushed tumble. Those women never tracked horse turd and dirt though the house because they were in such a rush to wrap their arms around him that they forgot to kick their boots off.

Milton pulled himself out of bed and poked around for his clothes, thinking about the night before. He and Hex stayed up late, drinking a bottle of red wine that one of the girls that went on the run with Katie brought back for her. Well for him really, he was the one that liked red wine. Hex drank beer or whiskey over ice. She had asked the girls to get her that wine. For him. Just another thing she did that he had no idea how to respond to.

They sat out on the porch after dinner instead of going for a horse ride, drinking the wine and talking. Having a friendly debate about different types of government and what sort they thought they were living under now.

After that they had gone into her bedroom. Well he supposed it was his bedroom too now. She had asked him if he wanted to move his things in. Milton had not really been so sure about that. He had never lived with a woman before, unless he counted his mother. But he liked Hex and thought her feelings might be hurt if he said no, so over his things came to be tucked away in the drawers she had cleaned out for him. She and her roommate fixed up their spare room for him too. With a desk and big corkboards on the walls. Hex came in with some boards and an electric drill and built him some shelves. Now he had an office.

Milton found his pants sticking out from under one side of the bed. He pulled them on and tried to straighten his hair up in the small mirror that was hanging on the wall. Turning his head to the side, he noticed there was a large purple mark on the left side of his neck, slightly below his ear. He moved closer to the mirror to get a better look and noticed there was not only one mark, there was a trail of them that led down into the collar of his shirt. He started trying to remember when he had hurt himself in that spot. Then he almost started laughing at himself.

They were hickeys. His first. After the wine, Hex led him into the bedroom and started pulling at his clothes. Telling him the same thing she always said, to leave his glasses on because she thought they were sexy. He didn't remember when she sucked at his neck, but he was confident that he enjoyed it while it was happening. He enjoyed everything she did to him. Sometimes it was all a little overwhelming. The tax accountant girlfriend had been a little overweight. She wouldn't have sex with the lights on and even in the dark she refused to take her shirt off. Hex walked around the house in her underpants even if her roommate was there. She slept naked with one long leg draped over him. The only thing she was self concious about was the twin scars that snaked up the length of her wrists. He made it a point not to ask about those.

There was already water in the teapot, and the pot was sitting on the little hot plate. All Milton had to do was turn it on. He reminded himself to thank Hex later. She was so gracious about all the little things she did for him, never making a big deal out of any of it. He tried to make it a point not to take her for granted. Once the water was almost boiling, Milton poured it into his travel thermos along with the tea bags he had picked out of the large box full that had suddenly appeared on the counter one day along with all the other tea making equiptment he needed to make tea. He had casually mentioned to Hex that he missed making tea in the morning and didn't want to make it at the main kitchen because the place was always so crazy busy in the morning. Whenever he went into that place he felt like he was getting in about fifteen people's way at once. A few days later the hot plate, tea kettle, tea bags and thermos had just been there sitting on the counter waiting for him to wake up like they had been there all along.

He thought about going down to the barn, but his growling stomach propelled him towards the main outdoor dining area instead. Milton pushed his glasses up onto the bridge of his nose and took a careful sip of his tea. He looked over the food and filled a bowl with what looked most appealing to him. Some thick greek style yogurt, a big scoop of fresh sliced peaches and some homemade granola. He pinned his thermos against his side with his arm and took a big slice of ripe watermelon in his other hand. Then he turned and started looking for somewhere to sit. Looking for a table always reminded him a bit of the high school cafeteria. Back then he would have taken one of the empty tables and sat by himself. But lately he had been trying to broaden his horizons.

First he looked around for any of the barn girls that worked with Hex. They were always nice to him. But they must have all eaten and left already. Next he looked for Tom. The giant man was easy to spot, and Milton headed in his direction. He paused a moment when he realized the man was sitting at a table with Merle and Martinez. People Milton had been actively avoiding since he got here. But there was an empty seat at the table and the lid of his thermos was getting uncomfortably hot against the skin of his arm. So he headed for the open chair and set his food down in front of it.

Tom was sitting next to one of the amish girls that had come in not so long ago. She had red hair also, but not as bright as Tom's. She smiled at him. Her little sister was sitting next to her. Martinez was sitting with one of the women that had robbed Woodbury all those months ago. From the looks of her, it had been almost nine months ago. She was leaning back in her seat, scratching at her swollen belly. Her daughter was sitting between them. Merle and his silent brother rounded out the group. Merle was pushed back from the table smoking while his brother was working his way through a ridiculously overfilled plate of food. Stuffing so much in his mouth at a time it was a wonder he didn't choke.

Martinez gave him a little nod of welcome, which surprised Milton. The man had never been particularly friendly to him back at Woodbury. And in an even more shocking turn of events, Merle lifted up the hand he was holding his cigar in and gave him a little wave. Tom whacked him on the back, asking him how in the hell he was doing.

"Must not be too bad," Tom remarked, always quick to answer his own questions, "got love bites all over yer neck!" The man followed this remark up with a heart belly laugh.

"Mom!," the young hispanic girl squeaked. She pointed at Milton. "I want watermelon!"

"Well go on and go get some," Martinez teased the girl, "your legs ain't broke." Her mother laughed and nodded her approval. Angie and the younger amish girl got up and ran off, leaving their dishes and cups behind for someone else to take care of. Milton watched them as they each grabbed a large slice of melon and took off running for the area where some other children were playing a loosely organized game of soccer.

Tom laughed after them before he turned his nosy attentions back to Milton.

"So how'd you get the hickeys?," he asked, elbowing the man a bit in the ribs, "got anymore we can't see?"

"How do you think he got them Tom?," Maria asked, a playful smile on her face, "Not everyone uses the vaccum cleaner like you do." Tom pointed at her, trying to look angry.

"That was ten years ago and I was trying to make Tommy's mom jealous," he reminded the woman. This brought on a round of laughter from everyone at the table. Including Milton, who was having a hard time not laughing at the mental image of a grown man sucking at his own neck with the hose on a vaccum.

"You bringing your girl to the wedding tomorrow?," Martinez asked Milton in an obvious attempt to change the subject. He couldn't remember the woman's name but he had seen her around a few times, usually leading a trail of horses through camp. She was good looking, and not someone he would have pictured with Milton. The man was doing well for himself.

"I don't know," Milton said. He had heard some talk about a wedding, but nothing concrete. "She didn't tell me yet," he added. This brought on more laughter, especially from Merle, who spoke up to announce that Milton must be 'seriously pussywhipped' if he let his woman tell him what to do.

Maria crossed her arms over her large round stomach and pursed up her lips, looking over at Merle. She raised her eyebrows at the big buffoon.

"You want to call him whipped?," she asked, "Katie told you that you were taking her to the wedding and she told you what to wear." And she was making him go to family dinner with her tonight and Maria heard him grumbling about not wanting to go to his brother and then telling Katie a big line of bullshit. _Of course sugar we can eat anywhere ya want to._ Maria did not bring that last bit up, but it still made her giggle. Ceaser pulled her close and kissed her on her forehead, shaking with laughter.

"She's right," Daryl announced through another large mouthful of food, "Yer whooped." Not that he blamed the man, Katie was a hot piece of ass. But he had never seen Merle act so funny over a girl. Not even when they were younger. Daryl didn't really mind it though. It was all for the best if it kept Merle from acting like Merle.

"Katie picked yer clothes out for ya too Darylina," Merle announced, "So shuddup." This brought on another round of laughter. It died down and some more coversation about the wedding started up. As he ate his food, Milton found himself smiling and chatting along with everyone else. There was some good natured teasing about weddings in general and who was going to be the next to have one. Instead of feeling like he was on the outside, he found he was included in the jokes. He had never given much thought to marriage or a wedding, but it didn't sound like an altogether unappealing idea.

"How did you know when it was time to start talking about marriage?," Milton asked, directing his question towards Tom and Martinez. The two men that he knew had been married before. Martinez kept his mouth shut. He was still mourning the wife and family he lost during the outbreak, and he didn't want Maria to catch onto how much he missed them. She was sensitive in the way that came along with being uncomfortably pregnant, and he didn't want to upset her. Some genuine affection was building between them, but it was still far from the relationship he had with his wife. She had been his first love and his best friend. He liked Maria but they weren't into love and forever territory yet. He was having a hard time letting himself get that attached to her after losing his family. Martinez was relieved when Tom spoke up and saved him from the verbal blundering that was sure to pour from his mouth.

"Don't worry," Tom assured Milton, "She'll tell you when it's time."

TWD

Katie came home from the main kitchen with her small son in tow. His face and arms were covered in sticky white frosting. The boy was happy to announce that he had been 'helping' to make the wedding cake for papa Hershel. It looked like he had been doing a lot more eating than helping but Merle gave the boy a hearty pat on the back before Katie whisked him away upstairs to plunk him into the bathtub.

Merle had nothing better to do, so he got up from the kitchen table and put the gun he had been cleaning away in the safe. Then he followed behind them up the stairs. He could already hear the boy's loud complaining about not wanting to be bathed. The same exact scene went on several times a week. Once the bubbles and the little rubber duckies came out Bash would climb right in. Then he would start up whining and crying again once Katie made him get out. Merle leaned against the frame of the bathroom door, watching them. Katie was leaning over, trying to scrub behind the boy's ears and he was laughing and splashing water at her.

"How did you get frosting in your hair?," Katie asked the boy. He splashed some water in her face and made her squeal. When that got boring, he balled up his fist and started pouding the little rubber duckies that were floating in his tub. Laughing when they popped right back up from under the water. Katie must have decided he was clean enough, because she got up from the tub and headed in Merle's direction.

She leaned in, not caring if she got him wet with bathwater when she leaned up against him. She smelled like sugar and vanilla frosting. When she kissed him, Merle could taste the sugar on her lips. His arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her against him and deepening the kiss. She hummed a little against him and then yanked quickly away, ducking behind him to avoid the wet and soapy rubber duckie that was being launched in their direction. It smacked into the door frame near Merle's head and splashed him with suds and drips of water.

Bash was still sittting in the tub, looking rather pleased with himself. He had another rubber duckie in his hand, his arm cocked back, aiming carefully to be sure he didn't miss again.

"Don't you do it," Katie warned him. Of course this only served to make the boy take aim at her, hurling the small rubber duck with as much force as he could muster. Katie caught the duckie in her hand and threw it back, bouncing it off the top of her son's head. "Keep the rest of them in there or I'm gone let the water out," Katie warned. Bash knew she meant that, so he gave his momma a big smile and went back to his play. Merle had to dart out of the room so the kid wouldn't see him laughing. He noticed that a few seconds later, Katie did the same thing. She was shaking her head at herself.

"I try, but he's so funny," she giggled. Her gran was always telling her if she didn't stop laughing at Bash whenever he was bad that she would never be able to make him behave. But she couldn't help it. He was so funny. She crossed the doorway quickly and poked around in her bedside table until she pulled out the half joint that she had hidden there the day before.

"You want to have a smoke before dinner?," she asked, holding up the joint. Merle nodded and followed her out onto the porch. She left the door open so she could listen for her son. Merle doubted the boy was going to drown in a few inches of water, but Katie called out to the boy every so often anyway, making sure he was alright in there. Merle figured it must be a mom thing.

Once they were done smoking, Bash was forcibly removed from the tub and wranged into a pair of cotton overalls. Katie disappeared into her closet to change out of her wet clothes. She came out in a long soft cotton dress and a pair of sandals, swiping at her damp hair. The dress hugged the curves of her body, making her waist look smaller and her hips bigger than they looked when she was in jeans and a looser fitting top.

"Don't look at me like that or you are going to make us late," she warned, noticing the rather wolfy grin she was getting from Merle, who was lounging on the bed. He had a book in his hands, pretending to read like he was waiting hours for her to get ready instead of only a few minutes. Her son was plopped down next to the man, looking at a picture book. Aside from destroying everything he could get his hands on, Bash's new favorite hobby was to follow Merle around and imitate him. If he could manage to get someone to give him a toilet paper roll to put over one hand, it made the game that much more fun for the boy. Katie tried to pretend she didn't notice, but really she thought it was about the cutest thing she had ever seen.

Merle, Katie and her son rode up to the main house with Tom. They were about the last people to arrive, and Katie hurried in to help Beth and Maggie set up the table. Merle was left in the living room with the men that were going to be attending the dinner. Tom, Tom's son Tommy, Katie's brothers, plus Hershel and Glenn. Except for the run they all went on together when they had picked up the Amish girls and all those animals, Merle had not seen the Asian man much. He figured things were still going to be awkward and tense between them, but it wasn't as bad as he expected. The half a joint he smoked with Katie before coming here had helped. But really, whatever animosity Glenn had been holding onto towards him seemed to have dissipated.

"What is _he_ doing here?," Mandy hissed at her sister once she had passed through the living room and seen Merle's hulking form on the couch next to her brothers. "This is a _family_ dinner."

"Fuck you," Katie hissed back. Momma D said she could bring Merle and this was her dinner, not Mandy's. She was just being a nosy little bitch. Clearly the fight they had before Katie left to go on the last run was not over. Not by a long shot.

"Kaitlyn," her grandmother chided, "language." Then she pointed at Mandy and told the elder of her two granddaughters to butt out and mind her own business. She knew Katie had been spending a lot less time with her sister than she had before she had a man to occupy her time, but that was no reason for Mandy to direct her anger at Katie's boyfriend. Mandy had been the same way with Bash's father Davis. Acting jealous of him and always saying Katie could do better. In the end, some of what Mandy said about the man turned out to be true, but he had been a good husband to Katie for many years before the end of the world came and screwed him up in the head.

"We are going to talk about this later," Mandy hissed, hanging onto Katie by the elbow. Katie jerked her arm away and ignored her, heading over to chat Maggie up about her pregancy. Lexi and Beth were putting forks by all the plates, trying to pretend that they had not heard the rather awkward conversation between Katie and Lexi's mom that was going on a few feet away from them.

"After all the wedding crazy is over, we should go out to one of the cabins for a girls weekend," Katie suggested. She liked Beth and Maggie and wanted to make better friends with them now that they were all going to be family soon. Beth smiled at the suggestion, while Maggie looked a little more hesitant.

"Or maybe we could just go for the afternoon," Katie offered, smiling at the other woman. Maggie smiled back and said she would like that. She felt weird about this woman, since she was involved with Merle, but Maggie reminded herself that not only did Katie have nothing to do with the events that happened in Woodbury before she arrived, she didn't even know about them. And she seemed so sincere about wanting to be friends. Maggie knew that Glenn wouldn't like her going off by herself. He had been hovering around her like a helicopter since he found out she was pregnant. But she decided he could deal with her absence for one afternoon.

TWD

Daryl was on his own for the night. Addy still wasn't speaking to him. And Merle was gone to some stupid family wedding dinner with Katie up at the main house. Daryl felt like he was more Hershel's family than Merle was, but didn't bother to point that out since he had no interest in being roped into going to some dumb dinner in the first place.

He walked down to the main dining area and sat at a table with Carl and some of the other kids while he stuffed his face with swordfish and green beans until his stomach hurt. Daryl fit right in, since the kids were all hogging down their food in a hurry, ready to run off and play whatever game they had planned. They often played soccer after dinner, but tonight was friday so they were going out into the woods near the big lake to play capture the flag. From the sounds of it, they were staying the night out there in a few of the larger cabins. Daryl thought it sounded like fun. Something he would have loved doing when he was Carl's age. He was happy for the boy, and that he was getting to have a chance to be a kid again.

Once the kids ran off, Rick joined Daryl at the table, sipping a beer and holding another one out for Daryl. He had Judith in his arms, but only for a few moments. She was quickly whisked away by one of the hooded women that took care of her. Rick smiled after the woman.

Daryl took the beer gratefully, swallowing down half of it right away in a few long gulps. He leaned back in his chair, trying to decide if he could pack anymore food away and deciding he better quit while he was ahead. His stomach already felt full. As he looked around, he picked a few of his people out from the small groups that were scattered about.

Michonne and Andrea were at a table with some other women, drinking wine and getting giggly. Michonne had her arm around the other woman, but it seemed more friendly then sexual. Carol was sitting with Rick's neighbor Rich and his kids, holding his daughter's baby so the girl could eat in peace. It was the first time he had seen her looking happy since they got here.

"How are thangs?," Rick asked him. Daryl shrugged. "That good?," Rick asked with a laugh. Like Carol, he seemed happy. Daryl guessed that was due to the pretty and very large breasted head of the security team that he had seen Rick talking and eating with lately. Roberta. She was a big step up from old Olive Oil that was for certain. Better looking and she could handle herself. She wasn't a weak woman that needed Rick for protection.

Everyone seemed to be paring off like a flock of geese. Even Merle. Leaving Daryl by himself as the odd man out. He had been thinking more and more about taking Andrew up on his offer. Living on a boat for a while, out on the open ocean. Getting away from here. It was sounding more and more appealing to him. Especially after the mess he made out of whatever he had going on with Addy. Relationships weren't really his thing. He felt like he wanted to get away and get a chance to clear his head.

"You still fighting with Addy?," Rick asked, pressing the silent man just a little more. Daryl's eyebrows knitted together and he tipped his beer back, chugging the rest of it down. "Sorry," Rick said, "She and Roberta are friends. Women talk."

"She's pissed off," Daryl said, finally speaking up. He wasn't sure how he felt about Addy. At first it felt like a relief, but then he started feeling lonely in a way that he hadn't before he started up with her.

"You try apologizing to her yet?," Rick asked. Daryl shook his head.

"Didn't do nuttin' wrong," Daryl insisted. He didn't see what he had to apologize for. Addy was the one acting crazy. All he did was give Beth a guitar. Not like he fucked her or anything.

"You hurt her feelins," Rick explained, "Just say sorry for that." He had been married long enough to know. It was best to just apologize no matter who was right or wrong. Daryl looked mildly interested in this idea, like it was a totally new concept for him that he had never considered before. It almost made Rick laugh.

"Does that work?," Daryl asked, feeling a little skeptical. At this point he figured it couln't make things worse. And all he had to do was say he was sorry for hurting her feelings. Which he supposed he was. He had not done it on purpose. Rick nodded.

"Have another beer first," he suggested to his friend. Daryl nodded like he had made up his mind.

Daryl chatted with Rick a little while longer and then he took the man's advice. He walked out to the brewery. Angel, the guy that was going to do his tattoo was out there, with a few other men that Daryl knew casually from around the compound. He had a drink with them. Then he had another drink. And then he had a few more shots. By the time he was on his way to Addy's cabin, he was so drunk he was staggering.

Daryl stumbed and almost fell. A pair of teenage looking hispanic girls starting laughing at him from the porch of a nearby cabin. In his drunken state, Daryl took that as an invitation to say hello. He lurched over and almost fell again, sending the young women squealing into their house. And elderly woman came flinging out of the cabin and started shouting at him in spanish. He couldn't understand her but he guessed it broke down to get your drunk redneck ass the hell out of here. She was shaking a thick handled wooden cooking spoon at him.

"Hey Dixon!," a voice shouted from a few cabins down, "You lost?" There was some more laughter from behind the angry spoon weilding woman. The girls were peeking out the door, having another laugh at his expense.

"What'er ya thinkyer laughin'at," Daryl slurred at the girls, waving his arms. He took one more step in their direction before the woman on the porch leaned over the railing and gave him a good solid bonk on the head with her spoon. Daryl reached up with his arm, grabbing for the weapon. The woman increased her volume, yelling more spanish obscenities at him. Then Daryl felt an arm go around his waist, pulling him back.

He turned on the person, taking a swing. He was so drunk all he suceeded in doing was knocking himself flat on his face. He flopped over onto his back and looked up to find Andrea and Michonne staring down at him.

"That's whatcha get for taking a swing at me," Michonne told him. Her smile was friendlier than her words. And between the two women, they managed to haul him up onto his feet.

"How much have you had to drink?," Andrea asked him. His breath smelled like the bottom of a bottle of jack. And the rest of him didn't smell much better.

"Yer not my damn motha," Daryl slurred. This made both women laugh.

"Come one, we'll take you home," Andrea offered. The women each slung a muscled arm over their shoulders and started half walking and half dragging him along. He started dragging his feet harder on purpose. Like a damn toddler.

"Not goin' home," he hollered directly into Andrea's ear. She leaned her head away from him, squinting her eyes since she could tell he wasn't done making her go deaf yet. "Goin' to Addy's house," he yelled at top volume.

Michonne leaned back, giving Andrea a questioning look. Daryl was being a grade A dick, and she didn't like the idea of taking him to Addy's house. Particularly since she knew they were fighting. Then again, the idea sounded better then her and Andrea having to babysit his drunk ass until he passed out.

"We'll take you to Addy's," Michonne told him, flinching back from his hot breath when he turned and leaned into her. Addy's cabin was closer anyway, if they were going to take him all the way to Katie's place they were going to need to borrow a golf cart from someone. There was no way they were dragging Daryl that far, he was a lot heavier than he looked.

Addy's place was only about five cabins down. Michonne and Andrea walked as fast as their heavy and rather disgruntled load allowed. At one point Daryl stumbled and grabbed Andrea's breast and she wasn't totally convinced he had done it by accident. If it wasn't so ridiculous, she might had been angry. They dumped the man down on the steps of Addy's porch with a thump.

"Tole ya not ta take me home," he complained.

"You're not home," Andrea said, leaning forward to speak loudly into his face like he was a deaf retard, "This. Is. Addy's. House."

"Ya don't hafta yell at me," Daryl told the woman. Michonne had to turn her back so he wouldn't see her laughing.

"Well go on Romeo," Andrea encouraged, "You're here." She pointed up the steps towards the door, surprised that no one had come out to see what the noise was about yet. Daryl had flopped down so hard on the steps that it must have shaken the whole place. Plus they weren't exactly being quiet.

Daryl turned around and managed to get onto his feet, using his hands to push himself up off the stairs. He clambered up and started pounding on the door with his fist. When it suddenly swung open, he stumbled inside a step and then stumbled back, catching himself on the door frame.

Daryl was too drunk to immediately take in the situation, but Andrea's eye flew open and she sucked in her breath. This was about to go from funny to not so funny anymore real quick. Addy was clothed only in a men's tshirt, which it looked like she had quickly pulled over her head since her hair was caught inside of it. And the owner of the shirt was lurking behind her, wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts. Andrea recognized the young man. It was Mack, the blonde guy they had brought back from Seaside. Daryl had obviously interrupted the two of them having sex when he started pounding on the door.

After regaining his balance, Daryl focused his eyes on Addy, who was standing in front of him staring at him with her mouth hanging open.

"Came to talk to ya," he told the woman. He was slurring his words, and he looked almost ready to pass out, which at this point might be for the best. Mack stepped forward, edging closer to Addy. Andrea exchanged worried glances with Michonne. Daryl lifted his hand and pushed the younger man's chest. He was so drunk he almost made himself fall backwards with his efforts.

"Not you," he slurred, "Came ta talk ta Addy." Somewhere in Daryl's alcohol ratted mind, the reality of the situation was starting to sink in. He knew something strange was going on, but he wasn't sure what.

"Maybe we should talk tomorrow," Addy suggested. Daryl held onto the doorframe with one hand and made a grab for her with the other, pulling her roughly against his chest.

"Got somefinn ta tellya," he insisted. His arm was wrapped around her waist, but then it slipped down, over the curve of her partially exposed backside.

"Why areya half nekkid?," Daryl asked.

Seeing the drunken man grope at Addy's ass was about the limit of what Mack was willing to put up with. He had just had his hands in the same spot a few moments before when she was straddling him naked on her bed. He charged forward and pulled the woman back. Then he shoved Daryl. Hard. Daryl lost his grip on the doorframe and went flying back onto his ass on the porch.

"Get your drunk ass outta here," the younger man hollered. Mack was angry. Who did this asshole think he was? Making Addy cry and ignoring her for days, then showing up here drunk and groping her. He wasn't going to let that slide.

Daryl rolled around on his back like an upside down turtle for a few seconds. Then he stopped and looked up at the two people leaning out of the doorway. They were both half dressed. And they looked sort of rumpled up. The man had his hand stuck out in front of Addy, keeping her inside the cabin. Both their mouths were smeared with Addy's red lipstick. They had been fucking when he showed up. Or getting ready to fuck at least. This was some serious bullshit.

The rage started rolling through him, cutting through the drunken fog like a razor. Daryl was suddenly on his feet, no longer weaving back and forth. He was locked onto the boy in the doorway like a bull on a red flag. Tunnel vision. All he could see was the other guy and nothing around him but red. A low growl emitted from him and the kid backed up, shoving Addy back into the cabin behind him. Daryl started to charge the kid but he only made it a few steps before he felt several sets of hands on him at once.

"Get inside and shut the door!" That was Rick's voice. Daryl started swinging at the people that were holding him, but they were ready for him. He was pulled down the steps and dragged further away from the cabin.

"Calm down." That was Rick's voice again. But Daryl couldn't see him. He only saw red, his vision still locked on the closed door. He tried shaking off the people that were holding him, but they were holding on tight. He heard someone else yell, "Go up to the main house and get his brother!" A voice Daryl couldn't place, but it sounded familiar to him. Then he felt a hand on his cheek. A gentle touch, unlike the hands that were holding him in place, fingers twisting into his arms like so many walkers. Daryl hated to be touched and he felt dangerously close to real panic.

"Daryl, look at me," Beth said. She spoke softly. Calm and quiet. "It's me, Beth."

Beth and Lexi had finished up dinner and let the twins and Tommy talk them into going out to play capture the flag. They were taking the long way through the cabin area to see if anyone else wanted to go with them when they stumbled upon Daryl being dragged away from Addy's cabin like a rabid animal. Thankfully Rick had been home and heard the commotion, since Andrea and Michonne might not have been able to hold the man back by themselves.

Beth smiled once she saw Daryl's eyes focus and lock onto her face. Once that happened, Daryl stopped struggling against the people that were holding him.

"Tell them to let me go," Daryl said. Beth nodded.

"Let him go," she ordered. Rick looked unsure. He let go, but he stayed close by in case he needed to grab the man again. Nothing too bad had happened yet, except for a little pushing and some drunken wrestling, and that was the way he wanted to keep it. If Daryl had gotten ahold of that boy and hurt him, it would have been worse. A lot worse.

Beth took Daryl by the hand, which he allowed, and led him over to the steps of Rick's porch. She sat with him until his brother showed up in a golf cart to collect him. Merle slid a finger under Daryl's chin, tilting his head back to look at his face. Then he turned to Rick.

"He didn't hurt anyone did'he?," Merle asked. Rick shook his head. Merle nodded his thanks to the man. Then he pulled Daryl up and loaded him into the golf cart. "Come on Derl, time to go little brother." He would have rather taken him home, but Katie said to take him to medical until he sobered up. Merle figured it was for the best. Katie and Maria's kids were at home, and they didn't need to see this shit. Plus he could tell by the smell that Daryl was about halfway to puke o'clock. So it was better if he was somewhere that would be easier to clean up once he started that shit.

Beth watched them drive away until they were gone. Then she let Gannon take her hand and lead her back the way they had been going before they stopped.


	35. Chapter 35

The Lady Claimers

Chapter 35

 *** Since it's been a minute since I updated I just wanted to remind you all that in chapter 33, Rick mentioned that a call had come in from a survivor outpost and when they went to pick the person up, no one was there. It probably seemed insignificant at the time, but it will make sense with the events that are coming up in this chapter. Big thanks to anyone that took the time to leave a review. ****

Daryl woke up to the sound of his name being called followed by a knock on the open door of the room he was sleeping in. His mouth felt like it was full of sand and he had no idea where he was. Waking up hung over with no memory was never a good sign. He slitted his eyes open and regetted it immediately. The sun was shining in through the window, beaming directly into his face. He heard someone moving towards him and then there was the sound of a curtain being closed. The bright light was gone and he was able to open his eyes without wishing he was dead.

With the light shining in behind the woman in front of him, it made her face hard to see, but he had a feeling he knew who it was anyway. There was only one woman around with that body type. Her voice confirmed his suspicions.

"Mornin' sunshine." Daryl groaned.

"Mornin' Katie," he managed to croak out. She came towards him, holding out a large plastic cup like a peace offering. He took it from her and sucked the liquid down gratefully. It was what he guessed it was, a giant iced coffee. He knew he said the stuff was only for rich snobs and men that liked to wear women's pants, but at the moment it was the best thing Daryl had ever tasted in his life. Sugary sweet and strong at the same time. She made herself one almost every morning, then walked around the house sipping on it while she got ready for her day.

"Put an extra shot of expresso in there for ya," Katie said. Without waiting for an invitation she slid over and sat on the cot next to him. "Would've rather let you sleep it off for the day, but Merle said you'd be upset if you missed Hershel's weddin'," she explained. Daryl nodded. It was the truth. Hershel was family and Daryl didn't want to miss out on what promised to be a happy occasion after all the bullshit they had been through together. But he was surprised Merle cared enough to know that.

"Do you remember what happened last night?," Katie asked. Daryl took another healthy swallow of his girly drink and scrubbed at his face with his hand. Katie had not been kidding about the expresso. He could already feel the caffeine coursing through him, chasing away his hangover. But he still had no fucking idea what happened the night before. The last thing he remembered was drinking with Angel and some of the other men down at the brewery. Everything after that was a blur. But he could tell from Katie's tone that something bad had taken place. He woke up in the infirmary, which Daryl knew was also the place where people were kept when it was necessary for someone to keep an eye on them. Morgan had stayed here for the first two weeks after they arrived. Until the girls were sure he wasn't a danger.

"What did I do?," Daryl asked. He hoped he hadn't hurt anyone. Those golf carts didn't go too fast, but if he got in one and crashed it into something or someone it could still do some serious damage. Katie saw the concern on Daryl's face. She guessed last night wasn't the first time he had gotten blackout drunk and taken a swing at someone or done something equally stupid that he regretted in the morning. Her arm went around him and she rubbed his back in soft circles.

"You didn't do anything because Rick and some of your other friends grabbed you before you could," she explained. Daryl nodded, looking obviously relieved. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in. While some wrestling and shenanigans were allowed around this camp, angry violence was strongly discouraged.

"What happened?," he asked, hoping for a more clear explanation of the events.

"I wasn't there," Katie said first, "but I heard you went looking for Addy. She was at her house but she wasn't alone..." Katie paused, hoping some of Daryl's memory of the night before would come back and spare her from having to explain the rest.

"That blonde kid," Daryl said, "the one we picked up on that run." For some reason he saw that boy's face in his mind, and the image made him angry. Katie nodded.

"If I let you outta here, you aren't going to go after him again are ya?," Katie asked.

Daryl shook his head again. He wasn't even sure why he went after the kid in the first place. It wasn't like him to get emotional over a woman. There really hadn't been much between him and Addy besides sex. That had been good, but not good enough to try and kill someone over. As far as he was concerned, Addy could plow it wherever she wanted. He didn't need her. He didn't need anyone.

"I'm good," Daryl assured Katie. She stopped rubbing his back and hugged him against her side. Having someone touching him usually made Daryl uncomfortable, but he was used to Katie by now. Like his brother she had no concept of personal space. Katie released him from her grasp before she hopped down off the cot and stuck her hand out for him to take.

"Let's go then, we got a weddin' to get to and you look like shit warmed over." Daryl laughed before he could stop himself and let Katie lead him out to the little golf cart she had waiting. They drove past the main dining area on the way to her house and he could see there were tons of people already running around, getting things ready for the big event.

TWD

Katie had somehow managed to get herself and her son ready without any major incidents. Bash was in khaki shorts and little button down shirt, looking every bit the little fancy man. He was so adorable she had already covered his little face in kisses until he started smacking her to make her leave him alone. She put on a floral sundress and a pair of leather sandals. The dress belted in the middle and made her waist look tiny. Her hair was still a bit of a mess, even after she curled it. So she pinned the front back with a clip and called it good enough.

After dropping off Daryl and picking up her son, Katie headed up to the main house where all the women were getting ready. She helped Lexi curl her grandmother's hair and pin flowers into it that they had cut from the garden. Against the white of her hair, the colorful flowers looked even better than she thought they would. They had already talked the woman into wearing a white dress, despite the fact that she had insisted she was far from being a virgin after giving birth to two children. The look was completed with a long fringed shall she draped over her shoulders.

Katie could feel herself starting to tear up. Someone shoved a handful of tissues at her so she could hold them to the corners of her eyes and keep her mascara from running. She turned to thank the person and saw it was Hershel's daughter Beth. Beth was a pretty girl, even when she dressed in grungy overalls she wore to muck out the horse stalls. But all cleaned up and made up she was really something. Her hair was twisted up into braids that were pinned to her head with a few tendrils falling down. She was wearing a sundress that flattered her thin frame. With makeup on her big blue eyes looked even bigger and bluer.

"You look so pretty," Katie told the girl. Everyone looked so good. And her gran looked so damn happy. Katie felt like she was about to burst with joy. Beth seemed to share her excitement and she pulled the other woman into a rushed embrace.

The rest of the ceremony passed by in a blur. Maria's young daughter and Katie's son served as the flower girl and ringbearer. Bash made it about halfway around the circle they were walking in before he grabbed the basket of flowers and dumped them out. He clapped for himself and took off running back to his mommy, causing lots of happy laughter from the crowd. Katie picked him up and held him on her hip while she watched her grandmother say her vows through bleary eyes. Tom had some sort of ridiculous internet officiants license, but the couple opted to simply say what they wanted to say to each other without anyone there to perform a ceremony. Hershel quoted from the bible. Momma D read a poem from one of her favorite books. They kissed and just like that the deed was done.

Beth stood next to her sister, holding tight to Maggie's hand. The ceremony was so short, there was no need for chairs. People simply formed a loose circle around the couple, with close friends and family members being encouraged towards the front of the crowd. Beth noticed Daryl, across the small clearing from her, standing next to his brother. Merle had his good arm around Katie and her son, looking sligthly uncomfortable with the woman's outward show of emotion. Daryl kept his eyes down. The dark circles under his eyes were the only sign of what had gone on the night before. About halfway through the ceremony he looked up and caught Beth staring at him. She wiggled her fingers and gave him a warm smile, which was returned with just a slight nod of his head before he went back to staring down at his boots.

After the ceremony, people lingered around, talking and waiting for their chance to congratulate the new couple. Beth noticed Daryl's brother disappear. When he showed back up he had a drink for himself and a very full glass of wine that he handed to Katie with a kiss on her head. She took it from him with a big smile and proceeded to chug down about half the glass.

Beth started to get worried when she saw her father with a glass of champagne in his hand, but when she got close enough to hug him he leaned in and whispered to her, telling her that it was only sparkling juice. Then he pointed. Some of the women were pouring the same drink out into little plastic cups for all the kids.

Beth headed over and took a glass of juice for herself. She knew no one would stop her, but she still felt strange drinking in front of her father. She knew he knew she was drinking and smoking but it still seemed disrespectful to do it in front of him.

Food was starting to be brought out of the kitchen and placed on tables under the tents. The poles of the large dining tent had been wrapped in colorful fabric and there were cut flowers on the tables. Further out in the yard, lots of tents and several small metal chimineas were set up for later on in the night. Beth guessed lots of people were planning to stay up late and make the festive occasion last as long as possible.

There was an area set up for dancing, with speakers for music. None was on yet, but Katie's twin brothers were over there fiddling around with an ipod. Beth was about to walk over and see what music they were getting ready to play, but then she saw Addy stand up from behind one of the speakers and changed her mind.

Turning on her heel, Beth headed for the food instead. With all the bustle that morning, trying to get everyone ready, she hadn't had anything to eat yet and the smells coming from inside the tent were making her mouth water. Beth had helped with the food preparation. She was pretty sure almost everyone had. But she had been up at the main house helping with the pies, so she had not seen what was being made in the larger kitchen. She realized as she looked over the food at the table that they were having a pig roast. The thought of that made Beth smile from ear to ear. The last time she had been at a pig roast was the one they had for Maggie's high school graduation.

There was plenty of pulled pork, and sitting next to it were large jars full of different types of bbq sauce. But not just that, on the table near the pork were all her favorite picinic side dishes. Potato salad, baked beans, coleslaw and slow cooked collard greens. In addition to that a bunch of the seafood the girls had come back from that last run with had been cooked in all different ways. If she wasn't careful Beth knew she was going to eat herself sick before this party was over.

The big white cake Katie had been helping with was set up inside the gazebo. Fans blowing the cold air off large buckets of ice were set up around it to keep the frosting from melting. Beth knew the rest of the desserts were set up inside the main house. Pies she had helped bake, plus cookies and Tom's special brownies that were being kept in a giant pan up on top of the fridge. In the tent, there was another station set up outside with salads and large trays of cut up fruit and vegetables. Since not as many people seemed to be crowding around that table, Beth headed in that direction and started filling up a plate for herself.

TWD

Rick was sucking down his second beer. It was warm out and he was thristy, so he made a mental reminder to make his next drink an iced tea before he got himself as drunk as Daryl had been the night before. Now that the fight was over and no one had been hurt, Rick was able to laugh at the mental image of Daryl barreling at that much smaller man like and angry bull after a flag. That kid didn't know who he had been fucking with, that was for sure.

Carl had abandoned him shortly after the ceremony was over. The boy was at another table, eating with a large rowdy crowd of other boys and girls that were about his age. Rick was trying to keep at least half an eye on the boy, mostly to make sure he wasn't drinking. Judith was dressed in a new indian style dress that either Zara or Selena had made for her. It was bright red and green with gold designs on it. She even had little gold baby sized bracelets on her wrists. Rick laughed as he watched the sisters showing her off around the party. Everyone was gushing over how cute she looked and Hershel even took the little girl into his arms so someone could snap a picture of them together.

"It's almost like the world never ended, isn't it?" Roberta set a slice of cake down between them and forked a small bite of it into her mouth before she handed him the fork. Rick looked around and nodded his approval.

"Everything good up at the gate?," he asked. The girls that were keeping watch were young and inexperienced. After the ceremony Roberta had gone to check on them.

"All clear," she said, reaching for his beer to take a sip of it. Her hair was down and styled so it fell in a long slick straight curtain down behind her shoulders. She was wearing a gold colored dress that hugged her in all the right places. He couldn't help the naughty thoughts that crossed his mind when she put the bottle of beer up to her lips.

"Did I already tell you that you look beautiful today?," he asked her. She handed his beer back and leaned in for a kiss.

"Three times already," she whispered, "but don't worry I never get sick of hearing it." That made him laugh and with the thought of her earlier comment in mind, he glanced around again at the party. Looking around, he really could almost believe that the outbreak never happened. Music was playing. People were talking and laughing and eating. Carl and the other kids were up from the table now, dancing to the music and goofing around with each other. Katie took her son and Zara took Judith. They went over to where the bigger kids were dancing and the two women set the toddlers down and put their little hands together, encouraging them to dance together. Judith had only just started learning to stand and soon she was facedown in the soft grass. Zara scooped her back up, brushing off her new dress before she took the little girl over to a more quiet area to nurse her.

Roberta had a beautful smile on her face and Rick put his arm across the back of her chair, gently stroking her back with his thumb. A slower song came on and he thought about asking her to dance, but decided to wait until later when there weren't so many kids out there horsing around. He was having a good time just watching for now, especially since Carl had his hands on the slim waist of Katie's pretty red haired neice, shuffling his feet in the grass and turning the girl around in an awkward circle.

Rick was grateful for a lot of things. But mostly he was glad that Carl was getting a chance to be a kid again. He was still going to be expected to learn practical things instead of going to normal middle and high school. But learning how to grow tomatoes and trim goats hooves instead of writing a book report wasn't the worst thing Rick had ever heard of. They would have a simple life here. But they would still have a life.

TWD

Hershel had been smiling for so long his face was starting to hurt. He had been hugged and kissed by so many people they all started turning into one joyful blur. There was a special table set up for him and his new bride. It was positioned so they could see the whole party while sitting in the shade. The small table was covered in a white cloth and a small mason jar full of sweet smelling flowers was in the middle of it. He never had to get up to go get himself something to eat, people just kept showing up at his table with food. Little bits of this or that, things they made special for the party that they wanted him to try. The best thing he had so far was a dish of giant shrimp smothered in some sort of flavored butter.

Katie stopped by and kissed her grandmother, asking them if they wanted to go ahead and cut the cake before the kids got into it.

"Piss on that cake," Dolores told her. Hershel laughed, almost snorting sweet tea out through his nose. He had come to realize that his new wife was much more like his first wife. Maggie's mother. She was blunt and she hated people making a fuss over her. The foul language was nre for him. That was going to take a little getting used to. "Just let the lil'uns go nuts with it," Dolores added, smiling over at the small group of children that were swarming the gazebo, plates and forks in hand.

"You want me to bring you a piece at least?," Katie asked, leaning down to wrap her gran up into a fierce hug. The woman nodded.

"I would love some cake," Hershel said. He looked down at all the empty plates in front of him and added, "maybe just a small piece." Katie laughed and bent down to kiss his cheek. She whispered not so quietly into his ear, thanking him for making her 'nana' so happy.

Katie gathered up the empty plates from the small table and dropped them off in a large bin of soapy water that had been set out for that purpose then she headed for the gazebo. Lots of high pitched squealing and yelling from the children could be heard and then they were walking out one by one, carefully carrying little white plates that were now filled with slices of cake. One little girl ran out with a slice of cake in her hand, crumbs dropping down the front of her shirt as she tried cramming the whole thing in her mouth at once.

A slightly older child had been trusted to carry not only one but two pieces of cake over to Hershel's table for him and Dolores. Dolores lifted the girl up onto her lap and let her eat her piece while Hershel laughed at them both. He recognized the child, but wasn't sure who her mother was. He had been trying to get to know everyone, but the group was large and scattered. There were still some people he hadn't had much contact with. From the girl's slight accent Hershel guessed she must belong to one of the russian women that worked in the gardens and spoke mostly in broken english. Maggie told him those women had been living here long before the outbreak. Victims of international sex trafficking that Katie and her sister Mandy had taken in. The girl managed to polish off most of the cake before her mother came to retrieve her. Like everyone else, the woman offered them her heartfelt congratulations. And an apology for her messy cake eating daughter which Dolores told her was totally unnecessary.

"How did this start?," Hershel asked, gesturing towards the woman as she walked away. She had ahold of her daughter's hand and they were skipping back to the area where people were dancing. But when the woman approached the table, he had noticed the scars on her arms and one long nasty looking one on the side of her face.

Momma D closed her eyes and thought about Hershel's question. She and her husband had built this place when she was pregnant with her first daughter, Katie's mother. Slowly adding on over the years. At some point the place started making money. A lot of money. The guided hunting trips were popular and so were the vacation cabins. They were often booked for the entire next summer before winter was even over. Dolores had been a teacher, back before her and her husband started homesteading, and she was still passionate about it. So she started with the summer programs for at risk youth. As her children grew older and had children of their own, they got involved as well. Katie and Mandy's mother had sent them to public school, wanting them to get a taste of the real world.

One day Katie brought a friend home with her. Katie had been in high school at the time, already hopelessly in love with her future husband. The girl she brought home was skinny with long dark hair and a haunted look to her face. After Katie forced a sandwich and giant glass of milk on the girl she sat her down at the table and asked her to repeat the story she had told Katie for Katie's gran. The girl looked scared, but she held tight to Katie's hand and told her story. Her mother's boyfriend had been raping her. One day her mother came home from work early and caught him. So naturally she called her daughter a whore that was trying to steal her man and kicked her out of the house. The girl had been living on the streets and in dingy motels, stealing or working as a prostitute to get money for food. Somehow she had managed to keep going to school, though her attendance was getting worse and worse. Dolores looked at her granddaughter's hopeful face, knowing right away what Katie wanted.

Ten years later and the girl that Katie brought home for dinner was still with them. She was Hex, the woman that took care of all the horses. But something had started that day that was about more than just one girl. Katie started stopping in at shelters for at risk youth or battered women. Leaving her number. Inviting girls she met at the shelters to come home with her for dinner. Some stayed at the compound until they were finished with school and moved on. Farm life was not for everyone. But some chose to stay permenantly and become part of the family. Once the turn happened it became about more than just giving someone a better life. It became about saving their lives. The first run outside the walls she picked up Roberta, Addy and Cassandra. Once they had Roberta things got much more controlled and organized. They still saved people, but they also trained them.

"I think we were very lucky that we ran into your granddaughter and her friends when we did," Hershel said. He was smiling, thinking the story over in his mind. No wonder these people were so prepared for the outbreak. They knew the horrors of the outside world long before the dead started walking. His new wife reached over and grabbed his hand.

"I'm the lucky one," she assured him.

TWD

Beth ate so much she was ready to burst. She laughed and hugged her father. Glenn got down on his knee and proposed to Maggie. Beth cried tears of happiness for them. She danced with Katie's brothers. Then she and Carl danced together. But eventually they grew bored of dancing. The twins wanted to smoke, but Beth and Carl didn't want to get high in front of their dads. So they headed into the main house and clustered themselves in one of the control rooms. Beth was there, sitting between Carl and Gannon. Greg had his arm around Kristin, who kept giggling every time he whispered to her. Beth felt a connection with Kristin, since she had been there when the girl was rescued from the men that were holding her. She was happy to see that Kristin seemed to have gotten over her fear of men and strangers in general. Lexi was sitting crosslegged on the floor, rolling a joint.

They smoked themselves silly. Somehow Beth ended up with her pink guitar in her hands, playing music that she knew well enough to not have to think about it too much. Carl and Lexi were sitting in the same chair, with Lexi half in his lap. Between the two of them they had devoured almost an entire chocolate cream pie straight from the dish. Beth was pretty sure neither of them was going to be pooping for a while and when they did, it was going to look like chocolate cream pie. Greg and Kristin were using the video monitors to try and spy on people. Since they were only pointing outside the walls, there wasn't much to spy on, but they had spotted a few walkers shuffling around. At Gannon's request Beth was playing all the Tom Petty songs she knew while he sang. He actually had a half decent voice and she was enjoying having someone to make music with.

Suddenly Kristin was shushing all of them up. Once Beth stopped playing, she heard a funny beeping sound coming from on top of one of the metal shelves. It took her a moment to realize it was a phone ringing. It had been a long time since she hears one, she had almost forgotten they existed.

"There," Kristin pointed, "I knew I heard something." Gannon cursed and stumbled forward, snatching up the phone. Luckily there was a big poster on the wall that told him what to say.

"This is base camp. Survivor Outpost you are speaking to base camp."

There was a long pause and then a voice came through from the other end. It was a woman and she sounded scared and nervous.

"We need help. There are biters outside and we are out of bullets."

Gannon looked at the phone in his hand. It was marked with a big number four. He ran him finger over the map, mumbling under his breath. On the map above the shelf one of the outposts was marked with the same number. It was the abandoned McDonalds. He knew where that was.

"How many of you are there?," Gannon asked. That was one of the questions written out in big black letters on the poster. There was a long pause and what sounded like muffled talking on the other end of the phone. Then the woman came back on.

"Only two of us, me and my sister... Can you help us?"

"Yes. Someone will be there in twenty minutes." Before the woman could say anything else the phone either went dead or she dropped it. Greg jumped up and smacked at Gannon. What the hell was his brother thinking, telling that woman that someone would be there in twenty minutes? Katie and all the other run girls were halfway to drunk by now. No one was going out to make a pickup until at least the next morning. Gannon should know better than to tell them someone was coming right away.

"Couldn't we just go pick them up?," Lexi asked. Unlike the other kids, she had been out on the road. A lot. She had been all the way to seaside and back more than six different times. She had been on pickups before too, with Roberta and some of the other women. Carl was quick to chime in, also volunteering to go along. He found himself strangely eager to get outside the walls and prove himself. Make sure this place wasn't making him weak. Also he wanted to impress Lexi.

"I do know where it is," Gannon admitted. There were only two women alone there. He was pretty sure they could pick up two women and make it back before anyone even knew they were gone.

"I don't know," Beth said. They were all high. And she was pretty sure none of them were supposed to go outside the walls without telling people where they were going. "Maybe we should take someone with us." Like Katie or Daryl.

"Ok," Lexi said, "let's go get Addy. I know she wasn't drinking tonight." That shut Beth up in a hurry. The last thing she wanted was to be stuck outside the walls with some crazy woman that hated her for no good reason.

"Forget it, let's just go," Beth said. Greg was telling Kristin she didn't have to go, but she was insisting she wanted to help. Save someone the same way she had been saved. So along she came into the weapons locker where they all started gearing up.

Beth had cowboy boots on under her dress, so she didn't have to change shoes. She strapped a leather holster around her waist and stuffed a gun and some extra clips into it. There was already a small knife stuffed down inside her boot. Beth felt safe at this place, but not safe enough to walk around completely unarmed. She knew most of the other women carried at least knives on them at all times. So she head decided to do the same.

Poking through the bin of secondary weapons, Beth didn't reall see anything she liked and eventually just took one of the long sharpened sticks that were leaning against the wall. The girls here mostly used them to stab at the walkers that ended up at the front gates. But she figured the stick would work for stabbing a walkers without letting it get to close to her.

The twins both took rifles, while Lexi grabbed her sword and one of the handguns she favored. Then she set Kristin up with a large hunting knife and a smaller handgun that didn't have a lot of kickback.

"I'm not a very good shot," Kristin admitted.

"Well...," Lexi said, looking at the gun she was strapping to the girl's thigh over her leggings, "just don't shoot me and we'll be alright." This brought on a round of laughter. Beth laughed too, but she had a sinking feeling in her gut. Everyone was acting like this was some kind of game, nothing more than a bit of silly mischief. But it was a lot scarier than that. She thought about saying something, but she didn't want to come off looking like a coward when everyone else was ready to go.

They loaded up into one of the larger trucks, Gannon drove with Lexi riding shotgun. Everyone else piled into the back. They got through the inner gate without any problems, but Beth knew there were people guarding the outer gate. With any luck they would refuse to let them leave. Gannon stopped the truck just short of the gate and Lexi leaned out.

"Open up," she called out, pointing to the gate. There were two girls guarding the gate and both of them looked nervous and confused.

"Roberta said no one in or out," one of them announced.

"Who do you think sent us?," Lexi asked the girl, talking to her like she was the biggest idiot on earth. The two girls exchanged glances and then the girl looked back at Lexi.

"Why didn't she call us on the radio and tell us herself?," the girl asked.

"Cause she's drunk at the party ya dummy," Lexi hollered. "Now open up." The girl chewed at her lip a moment. Roberta told her very clearly that no one was to be let in or out. The gates were not to be opened for any reason. But Lexi held some authority around camp as well. Everyone knew she was the youngest memeber of the run team and a field medic. If she was telling them to let her out, the girl figured maybe she needed to go help someone that was hurt. The girl also saw both Katie's brothers in the truck, who she knew had also gone out on a run not too long ago. She didn't think they would be going out unless Katie knew about it. The girl hesitated a moment longer before she climbed down and pressed the button that opened the gate.

Gannon slammed on the gas once they got onto the road, making the tires squeal and leaving black tread on the road behind him. His brother reached through the window of the cab and smacked him upside the head, telling him to knock that shit the hell off people he killed them all.

Beth had not been outside the walls since they arrived. She thought she remembered what it was like on the outside, but seeing it was something different. They passed by a burnt down building with a few charred walkers stumbling around in front of it. Abandonded cars were scattered around, doors and trunks hanging open. It gave her a sick feeling in her stomach and she could tell by the serious look on Carl's face that he felt the same way. Somewhere deep down in some secret place inside of her, she knew now that she had been pushing all this out of her mind. Pretending that the outbreak was nothing more than one long bad dream. Outside the walls of the compound, things were slowly returning to normal. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Gannon pulled the truck up outside what used to be a fast food restaurant. On the tall sign that could be seen for miles, the letters spelled out SURVIVOR OUTPOST. There was a similar sign on the building as well. Above the door. The place was sprayed up with pink spray paint, especially the door, which said ENTER HERE and PLEASE DO NOT STEAL THE KEY. The key was attached to the side of the building with a bike lock, but someone with a bolt cutter could still take it.

There was a small group of walkers piled up against the door. So at least the woman on the phone had not been lying about that. Greg leaped down from the truck, waiting and giving Beth and Kristin a hand down behind him. Lexi whistled, getting the walkers attention. She slashed the first few with her sword while Greg and Gannon sliced at the rest with their hunting knives. Carl's gun had a silencer, so he shot and any biters that were coming at them from the other direction.

Beth and Kristin only had to kill one. It shuffled over from around the back of the truck. Kristin kicked it's knee out and once it was on the ground, Beth stabbed it in the head with the spear she was holding. It felt better than she expected. She didn't even get anything on her dress. Now she was feeling silly for being so scared. She had been on the road all winter. There was no reason for her to feel like she couldn't handle herself.

The twins dragged the walkers away that were blocking the door. Then Lexi opened it. She called inside before they entered. Telling the people inside that she was here to help them and asking them to please not shoot at her or her friends. Beth ended up in the middle of the group, the entrance was narrow and they had to walk single file. Once the were inside, it became clear that something wasn't right.

There were two women, as one of them had said on the phone. But instead of hiding in the back or behind the counters like Beth expected, they were standing out in the open clinging to each other. Neither one of them had much clothing on. One was in a tattered oversized tshirt and the other was dressed in a men's button down shirt that only had a few buttons left. Kristin was standing slightly in front of Beth and then suddenly her body was stiff with fear. She reached for her gun, but in her panic it got stuck in the holster.

"They're going to kill you!," one of the women screamed out. Before Beth could respond the woman was slumping dead to the ground with an arrow through her head. Within the span of a few seconds, everything turned into complete chaos. Kristin started screaming. Horrible ear peircing shrieks that echoed through the empty restaurant. Then some man grabbed for Lexi and she was fighting him. He twisted her wrist until she dropped her sword and then they started struggling over her gun.

Beth felt herself pulled backwards by the hair. A strong forearm pressed against her throat and then everything was going black. She could feel the man's hot breath on her ear. Somewhere in her mind she knew she ought to be going for her gun, but instead she was gripping the man's arm and trying to pull it away from her neck. Air. She needed air. Black spots were swimming in front of her eyes. The last thing she saw before everything went black was some man knocking Carl to the ground and wrapping duct tape around his wrists. His hat flung off and rolled across the floor into a puddle of blood.


	36. Chapter 36

The Lady Claimers

Chapter 36

Daryl had a pounding headache from all the drinking he did the night before. The two beers he sipped dulled it to a low throb but he still wasn't feeling the party mood. The hot air of the afternoon was slowly giving way to the slightly cooler breeze of evening, but he knew it would stay light out until quite late. Daryl glanced down at the half piece of wedding cake on the plate in front of him, his stomach already feeling like it was about to burst. He had actually given himself a little pep talk before the wedding. Not only about how he was not going to drink too much, but he was going to make a solid attempt at not overeating as well. As soon as he saw that mounded pile of slow cooker pork with homemade bbq sauce all his resolve went straight out the window.

Seeing that no one was around that would care, Daryl pushed back from the table. He undid the top button on his pants and put his boots up on the table next to the uneaten cake. Fishing his lighter out of his pocket, he lit a cigarette and took a long drag on it. The chair next to him was pulled out and Daryl turned to see who was invading his private space. He relaxed once he saw it was only Glenn.

"Can I bum one?," the man asked. Daryl nodded and pulled a second cigarette out for Glenn, handing it to him along with the lighter. Glenn's face was flushed from whatever he had been drinking, but he still seemed in control of his major bodily functions.

"Pretty crazy, Hershel getting married," Glenn mentioned. Daryl nodded. It was a little crazy, but not in a bad way. Daryl liked the idea that someone as old as Hershel was still young enough to get a fresh start. He had been trying for a fresh start most of his life, but he seemed to drag his past with him wherever he went.

"Oh yeah man, congratulations and shit," Daryl said, suddenly remembering that he and Glenn hadn't spoken since news got around that Maggie was pregnant. Glenn looked confused so Daryl added, "Maggie, you knocked her up right?" Katie had been rambling on about it for several days now, seemed it was possible she might be just a little bit excited about having a new baby in the family. Glenn coughed out a laugh and then crushed out the half a smoke he had left. A cigarette always sounded good to him when he was drinking, but then when he had one it was just plain nasty.

"Oh yeah," Glenn said, "I'm scared as fuck." Daryl laughed at that.

"Be a'right," he assured Glenn. Daryl didn't know much about kids. He didn't have any. Didn't really want any. Living with Katie's wild animal of a son served as good birth control. But Maggie seemed like the type of woman that would know what to do with a baby, so he figured all Glenn needed to be worried about was not pissing her off too much.

Glenn spotted Maggie coming back from the bathroom. He hastily excused himself from Daryl's presence and ran off to see if she wanted or needed anything. They made a sweet couple, Daryl liked seeing them together. He could tell they were going to be good parents, not like the ones he and Merle had. And the compound would be a nice place to raise up a family. Thoughts had crossed his mind more than a few times when he was watching the kids here play. Mostly he wondered how much different his life would have been if he had grown up in a place like this. Surrounded by flowers and gardens and friendly animals.

Even now there was a fluffy looking orange and white barn cat under his chair, meowing up at him and rubbing it's cheeks on the legs of his chair. Daryl leaned forward, grabbing the plate of cake and setting it down on the ground for the cat to lick at. Then he let his hand glide over the cat's back, scratching at it just in front of it's tail. It arched it's back up against his hand before it returned to the plate of cake.

Suddenly the cat was up in it's tiptoes, hair sticking out all over it's body like it was ready for Halloween. It stayed still only long enough to issue a warning hiss before it shot across the yard like a rocket, Bash's small hands only missing it's fluffy tail by inches.

"Bash!," the boy declared, climbing back out from under Daryl's chair where he had darted to try and grasp hold of the cat by it's long fur.

"No Bash," Daryl told him, "be nice to kitties."

"Nice kitty," Bash repeated. Then he added, "Bash kitty!" The boy smiled up at Daryl, feeling very pleased with the naughty little joke he made. Daryl laughed before he could stop himself. Bash lifted his grubby hands, rubbing at his big blue eyes. He looked about as tired as Daryl felt, which wasn't surprising after all the excitement that had gone on today.

"Tired buddy?," Daryl asked him. He looked around for Katie, unsure of what to do with a large sleepy toddler. It took Daryl a moment before he spotted the woman. She and Merle were out on the dance floor, putting on a rather disgusting show. Slow dancing with each other even though the song was fast. She had her head tilted back and his face was tilted down. The tips of their noses were touching. Daryl rolled his eyes. Since when did his dumbass brother even know how to dance?

"Tired," Bash repeated. The boy grasped hold of Daryl's shirt and pulled himself up into the man's lap. Daryl stiffened up, his arms sticking out to the sides. But once Bash nuzzled his head down against his chest he relaxed and wrapped his arms around the boy. His hair was soft and he smelled like vanilla frosting. He had his little thumb in his mouth now, sucking it. There was still a little mark above his lip where he had been stuck with the fishing hook while Merle was supposed to be watching him.

It had taken Daryl off guard at first, how willing his brother seemed to be to spend time with Katie's son. Daryl figured Merle must be playing some sort of angle. But as he watched them together, memories of Daryl's own childhood came floating back to him. Merle teaching him how to hunt and fish. Taking him out for ice cream when the fighting between their parents got to be more than he could stand. Merle wasn't always the heartless bastard he liked people to think he was. The more Daryl watched him, the more he was starting to believe that Merle's feelings for Katie and her son were genuine.

Katie's son was warm against his chest. Listening to his slow even breathing was making Daryl even more tired than he had been before. Daryl scooted down in his chair, leaning back and closing his eyes. A few seconds later he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"I can take him inside and put him to bed," Katie said, reaching for her son, "That doesn't look comfortable, sleeping in a hard metal chair like that." Daryl rubbed his face. He felt reluctant to give up the boy. They had been having a good cuddle and listening to the boy's soft snores was surprisingly relaxing.

"I can take him in," Daryl offered, wrapping his arms around the boy. Katie ran her hand over her son's blonde head, smiling down at him and Daryl. The look on her face was soft and full of all the love she felt for the boy. Daryl had never seen anything like it. It was no wonder his brother was all lovesick over her, if she was looking at him like this.

"You sure?," Katie asked. Daryl had never offered to watch her son before, and the one time she had asked him to keep an eye on the boy while she ran outside to use the bathroom he had looked at her like she was crazy. Daryl nodded.

"Stay and have fun," he told her, "I'm dog fuckin' tired anyway." Katie stroked the boy again, then leaned down and kissed his cheek. She told Daryl which room in the main house belonged to Bash and that there was an extra bed in the room if he was too tired to walk or drive himself home. She rubbed her hand over the boy's slim arm and then gave Daryl's hair a gentle stroke too. The first time she touched him he had thought she was coming on to him, by now he knew that was just her way. She was physical with her affections for people, and touching Daryl was no different to her than hugging one of her brothers. One more last kiss for her son and she was skipping off to go and help some of the other women put the party food away. Her full hips swayed as she walked, the flowered dress she was wearing swung in rhythm with her movements.

Daryl got up, finding Katie's son to be a lot heavier in his arms than he expected. The boy looked a lot like Katie and her brothers. But there was something fine and chiseled in his features that the rest of them didn't have. His nose and the curve of his jaw were more defined. Daryl assumed those were features the boy must have inherited from his father, whoever the man was. There were no pictures of him up anywhere, which made Daryl curious. He could understand Katie taking all the pictures down if they were divorced, but from what he had heard the man had died.

Leaning forward in an awkward position, Daryl managed to pull the screen door open without dropping the kid on his head. He expected to find more people inside, but the house was quiet. Everyone must all have gone to bed or stayed out at the party. He had seen Beth had come inside earlier, and it made him feel edgy not knowing where she was. He reminded himself that she was with Carl and both of Katie's brothers. They were good boys. Nothing bad would happen to her while she was with them. Besides, Beth wasn't his responsibility to worry about. Daryl headed for the room Katie had indicated. There was a large bed in the middle of the room and a smaller toddler bed against the wall which he figured must belong to Bash. There were a few bins of toys and a large net hanging from the ceiling that was full of stuffed animals.

Daryl set the boy down gently in the small bed, but as soon as he pulled his hands away the kid started wailing. Pulling a stuffed animal down from the net, Daryl tried offering it to the boy, but that only made him cry more. And louder. Daryl cursed under his breath. He stood up, getting ready to leave the room and go get Katie. Bash was out of bed in a flash, reaching his arms up for Daryl to pick him up. Daryl hesitated, not knowing what to do. Then he picked the boy up. Once he was cuddled in Daryl's arms again, the boy stopped crying.

After a few pats on the back, Daryl tried again to lay the boy down in his bed. He clung to Daryl like a fucking burr, screaming bloody murder as soon as any part of his body even brushed against his small bed.

"You sleep me Marl!," the boy cried.

"I ain't Merle and we both won't fit in that lil' bed," Daryl said, trying to reason with the boy. Bash pointed to the bigger bed in the room, clinging to Daryl like a tiny spider monkey with the other arm.

"Sleep me in the big bed," he demanded. Sensing that Daryl was hesitant about following his commands, Bash let out another series of bone chilling shrieks.

"Okay, Okay," Daryl mumbled, rushing the boy over to the larger bed and yanking back the covers while he still had some of his hearing left. "I'm only gone sit with you until ya fall alseep," he said, trying to sound firm. He placed the boy in the bed and pulled the covers up, sitting on the edge of the bed. Of course that wouldn't do. Bash carried on, crying like his little heart was breaking until Daryl was under the covers with him and the kid had his head resting on Daryl's broad chest.

Bash's little hand was fisted into his shirt, as if he planned to keep his new snuggle buddy from escaping even after he fell asleep. Daryl laughed a little at himself. He had been making fun of Merle in his mind, calling him a real grade A pussy for fawning over Katie and her son. And now here he was, tucked into bed with the same kid like some kind of fucking nurse maid. Daryl leaned his head back, knowing he was stuck in place at least until Bash started snoring again. He said he was only going to close his eyes for a second, but the next thing he knew he was being woken by a shrill ringing that was echoing down the hall.

Easing out from under the boy, Daryl shoved a pillow into the place where he had been lying. The pillow was warm from their combined body heat and Bash snuggled into it, gripping the case in his fist like he had been doing with Daryl's shirt. Daryl hurried down the hallway, following the noise. The ringing was coming from the control room. Daryl had been inside the room once or twice before, but it felt strange to see it empty. There was usually at least one person inside, and often more than one. The room smelled like pot smoke and there were a few dirty plates and cups lying around on the counters and floor. The guitar he had given Beth was sitting in one of the chairs.

Daryl found the phone that was ringing and pressed the button to answer it.

"Hello?," he said, feeling tentative. He knew the girls had certain ways they answered the phones and radios here. Code words and a bunch of other bullshit. But he didn't know any of them. The most he could do was have the person wait while he went and found someone that knew what they were doing.

"Who the fuck is this?," the person on the other end asked. That struck Daryl as odd. First off, it was a man's voice. One he didn't recognize. The only man here that was involved with security was Rick. And this wasn't Rick. Secondly the person was being rude as hell.

"Who the fuck is this?," Daryl spit back.

"This is Joe," the man replied, "now put fucking Katie on the phone right now."

"Why the fuck should I?," Daryl asked. He had put two and two together quickly in his mind. Those assholes they met on the way here from the prison. Katie had been calling them by name. And the leader's name was Joe. He must have got ahold of one of the sat phones and decided to cause some trouble.

"I'm standing outside the wall in front of one of your cameras," the man told Daryl. There was a tone to his voice that Daryl didn't like. Threatening with a touch of amusement. Never a good combination. Daryl turned towards the large video screen. It was set so all the camera views could be seen at once. Almost thirty images on the screen at once. There were really to small to see anything that was going on. Daryl moved Beth's pink guitar out of the chair and sat down, staring at the keyboard in front of him and trying to figure out which button to press.

One button was painted with pink nail polish, so he took a chance and pressed it. The mulititude of tiny images was gone, leaving only one view. This one was showing the front gate, where nothing seemed to be going on. Just two girls on guard behind the wall. One of them was patting the other one on the back, like she was upset. But there was nothing that looked immediately dangerous. Daryl pressed the arrow next to the pink button and was rewarded with another camera angle of the front gate. He felt like he was getting the hang of this. Daryl started scanning through faster, looking to see something other than a view of grass or the empty road. One screen showed a lone walker shuffling along.

One more press of the button and then suddenly there was a man on the screen. Daryl was right. This was the same asshole they saw on the road. Rick had been right. They should have killed him when they had the chance.

"I see you," Daryl hissed into the phone.

"Good, go get Katie," the man demanded again. This guy had a real thing for Katie. And that shit was starting to piss Daryl off. Not only he feel oddly possesive over her, since he felt she belonged to Merle. But she was his friend. He didn't like the idea of what this creep might want to do to her.

"Why the fuck would I do that?," Daryl asked. The man on the other end of the phone laughed.

"Because I have something she wants."

With that the phone clicked and went dead. But the man was still visible on the television screen. Daryl watched as he motioned to someone that was out of the picture. What happened next made Daryl's blood run cold in his veins. Two men marched into view. And they weren't alone. One had ahold of one of Katie's twin brothers and the other had ahold of Beth. Both kids had their hands tied behind their backs. Katie's brother looked pretty rough. Someone had worked his face over and one of his eyes was swollen almost shut. Beth had a fat lip and the front of her dress was torn open, revealing the small lacy bra she was wearing underneath. She was crying.

Joe smiled and waved at the camera. Then he grabbed Beth by the hair and forced his mouth down on hers. She tried to yank away but the man still had her by the hair. He slapped her across the face with his other hand. Then the man pulled his gun from the holster and shot out the camera, making the screen go blank.

TWD

Rick's hands were on her waist, guiding her as he walked her backwards into the kitchen. She felt the hard press of the counter behind her and then his hands were moving down, gripping her hips and lifting her up onto the counter. Roberta grasped her dress, hiking it up her hips to keep it from tearing when she wrapped her legs around him.

She hadn't had much to drink. Only a glass of wine with her dinner and a few sips of Rick's beer. But it was obvious Rick had was at least halfway to tipsy. She hadn't really seen him drunk before. He was adorable. All compliments and roaming hands. Now he was wiggling his hips, settling himself between her thighs as he kissed up her neck to her lips.

He had shaved earlier that morning, when they were all getting ready for the wedding. Now there was just the right amount of stubble on his face, just enough to keep it from feeling too baby soft. She liked the rough feeling of it against her skin. His cheeks and jaw were rough, but his lips were full and soft. She followed his lead, letting him kiss her as deeply as he wanted. His hands were behind her, feeling for the zipper on her dress and tugging it down.

"Hey! Roberta!," Addy called in from the kitchen doorway. Normally she would be laughing if she caught her friend in such a compromising position. But instead she looked concerned. Roberta pushed Rick back and hopped down off the counter, adjusting her dress so all her vital parts were covered.

"What's wrong?," she asked. Addy explained. She had gone down to the front gates. Just to check on things and take the girls on watch each a piece of cake and a sparkling cider. That's when she figured out the kids were gone.

"They said they saw Lexi and the twins, plus two girls who's names they didn't know and the kid that always wears the sheriff hat," Addy glanced at Rick, "I think they meant your son."

"Hold on," Rick said, "Where the hell is my son." The news that Carl was gone had a immediate sobering affect. He was scared for the boy, and also angry that his son would take off like that without telling him. It had been a while since Carl pulled a bullshit trick like this.

"I don't know," Addy, "Jen said they left in one of the trucks. They girls on guard duty didn't know where they went." Roberta wanted to just start cussing up a storm. Lexi knew better than that. No one ever left the compound without telling anyone where they were going. Not even Roberta. Finding them out there now would be like finding a needle in a haystack. And the twins, she couldn't believe they would be this stupid. Well, Greg maybe, but she expected better from Gannon.

"Let's go inside, maybe we can figure out where they went," Roberta told Rick. The poor man looked like he had swallowed a fly. Roberta wasn't that worried yet. She was hoping maybe the kids just went out to drive around the outside of the wall or something equally as stupid. They had to know better than to go further away than that. Or at least she hoped they did.

Rick nodded and the three of them headed for the main house. On the way Roberta sent Addy to try and figure out who exactly was missing. They knew Lexi, the twins and Carl were gone, but there were two more girls with them. Someone had to have seen who they were. Roberta opened the screen door and headed inside. As she went to round the corner, Daryl came barreling into her like a freight train. He knocked both her and Rick to the ground. The man looked like he was in an absolute panic.

"Beth," Daryl hissed once they had him back on his feet, "they got Beth and Katie's brother."

"Who?," Roberta and Rick asked at the same time.

"Joe, those assholes we ran into on the way here from the prison," Daryl said, "they got her." Daryl looked like he was about to run off, which he was. He was on a mission. Looking for Katie. Rick put an arm on his shoulder to keep him there.

"Tell me what happened," Rick demanded. Daryl nodded. He was breathing hard. But he managed to explain what happened. The phone call and what he saw on the television screen. He took Roberta to the control room and showed her which phone the call had come in on. She pressed a few buttons on it and looked at a poster on the wall. A call had come in a few hours ago from one of the survivor outposts. Outpost four. That was the phone Joe was calling them from. He must have gotten it off the chain and taken it with him. That stupid son of a bitch. She should have killed him after they robbed Woodbury.

Roberta turned the phone on and dialed the number Joe had called them from. Rick and Daryl were pointing at the map on the wall behind her. After a few rings, someone picked up. Picked up but didn't say anything.

"Hello?," Roberta asked. The man on the other end asked who she was.

"This is Roberta Warren Joe," she said, "you have some of my people and I'm going to need them back."

"Fuck you, you nigger bitch," the man told her, "Like I told that fucker earlier. Put. Katie. On. Do it now or one of your _people_ isn't going to live to see tomorrow." He didn't say anything else. But there was noise on the other end of the phone. She heard what could only be the sound of someone being slapped. Then screaming. Rick's face went even more pale, not knowing if it was his son or another kid that was being beaten nearly half to death. Roberta held the phone, not knowing if she should hang up or try and continue reasoning with the man.

Then the phone was being yanked from her hand. Katie was in the room, Addy and Merle perched behind her in the doorway. She must have heard at least part of what was going on because she grabbed the phone and started screaming into it.

"YOU WANTED ME, HERE I AM YOU FUCK! YOU HURT ONE HAIR ON MY BROTHERS HEADS AND I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU. I WILL GUT YOU. I'M GOING TO RIP YOU APART. YOU PERVERT!..."

She might have kept going a while longer but Merle grasped Katie around the waist and pried the phone away from her mouth with his good hand. He could hear that whoever was on the other end of the phone call was laughing. He held the phone away from him and mouthed to his brother. We Can Find Them. Daryl nodded and went back to the map. He pulled Roberta over and started asking her questions about where the camera was that he was looking at the man through. That fucker couldn't have gotten too far, and if he was laughing on the phone with Katie then he wasn't expecting an ambush.

Addy darted out of the room. Running for the rest of her team. Looking for anyone that was still sober enough to help them. Katie was breathing hard, blinking back the hot angry tears that were starting to well up in her eyes. She was scared. More afraid than she had been since the very beginning of all this. She could handle being in danger. But the thought of the people she loved being hurt was overwhelming and horrible.

Merle shoved the phone at her.

"Stay calm. Keep him talking. Try to find out where he is." He said all this under his breath in a whisper low enough that the man on the phone wouldn't hear him. Katie nodded. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then she out the phone back up to her ear. She could do this. She had to do this.

"What do you want?," she asked. There was more laughter on the other end of the line.

"Well hello there darlin'. It's good to hear your voice," he said, pretending he hadn't heard all the threats Katie had been screaming at him a few moments before. Just the sound of his voice made Katie sick to her stomach. When she closed her eyes she could still feel him on top of her. The sour sickly smell of his breath as he kissed her.

"What do you want Joe?," she asked again. The room was a flurry of activity around her. And there was more commotion out in the hall. People were piling in from outside. Gearing up. Strapping on weapons. Her sister Mandy was in the hall pulling on a pair of pants under her party dress. Michonne was with her and they both looked wonderfully rumpled. Mandy had a hickey on her neck. Katie couldn't focus on it, but something in her mind told her seeing the two of them together was significant. She would think about that later. Once the kids were home safe in their beds.

"You owe me dinner," the man informed Katie. She shook her head to clear it, trying to figure out what in the hell he was talking about. Then she decided she didn't even care. Whatever he wanted, she ought to just pretend to agree to it and see if she could get him to let the kids go.

"Okay," she said, "Dinner. Bring my people up to our front gate and you can come in for dinner."

"Do you think I'm that fucking stupid Katie?," Joe asked. She bit her lip, the taste of blood filling her mouth. She didn't think he was that stupid, more like she was just hoping he was that stupid.

"No." She didn't know how else to answer the question.

In the hallway an argument was starting up. Mandy didn't want Merle coming with them. The two of them were fighting. Katie felt chained to the horrible conversation she was having on the phone, unable to split them apart and make her sister stop being proud to the point of stupidity. _We're all on the same side._ Thankfully Michonne slid between them before the fight turned from verbal into something more. The dark skinned woman put her hands on Mandy's paler shoulders, telling her Merle was the best tracker she had ever seen. He had tracked her down when she was trying her best not to be found. That seemed to be enough for Mandy. She nodded and made no further complaint about Merle's presence.

"Are you fucking listening to me!," the voice on the phone asked. Katie startled. She had not been listening. She had been concentrating on the fight in the hall.

"I'm here," she said. "Tell me where to meet you."

"You meet me at the old McDonalds, the one you have painted up like an outpost," he demanded, "you come alone."

"If I do, you'll let them go?," she asked. No matter what he said, she was never going to believe him. Only one of them was getting out of this situation alive. Her. And if she found out Joe or any of his disgusting followers tried any of their tricks on her brothers or any of the rest of the kids, she was going to make sure he died slow.

"Yeh," he lied, "I'll let them all go. Got no use for a bunch of kids anyway." Katie could hear a girl crying in the background through the phone. She couldn't tell who it was but the sound of it was terrible. If she started imagining what was happening she was going to go crazy.

"Let me talk to one of my brothers," she said, "I need to make sure they're ok."

There was a shuffle on the other end of the line. Then a loud wet slap. She heard Joe talking to what must be one of her brothers. Instructing him to tell her he was alright.

"Katie?" Katie gripped the phone tighter.

"Gannon?," she asked, "you alright." He didn't sound alright. His voice sounded bad, like his mouth was puffy and swollen. She heard him take a deep whistling breath. Then he screamed into the phone.

"WE'RE DOWN DECATUR ROAD IN THE WILSON'S OLD FARM HOUSE! GET HERE AND GET HERE NOW THEY'VE GOT THE GIRLS UPSTAIRS..."

The phone was yanked away from her brother's mouth and Katie heard the thump of it as hit the floor. The last thing she heard before it went dead was Gannon screaming as he was being beaten.

"The Wilson's old farm house!," she screamed out down the hall, running for the amoury. Mandy was near the door with a small group of people that were already geared up. "Go!, Go now they know we're coming!," Katie screamed at them. She didn't wait to see if they listened to her, but as she strapped on her belt over her flowered sundress she could hear the stomping and slamming of doors as they ran outside for the trucks.


	37. Chapter 37

The Lady Claimers

Chapter 37

 **** I think with the addition of this chapter, this will be my longest story to date. Thanks to all my silent readers and anyone that has taken the time to leave me a review. This is far from being my most popular story but it's the one that I have the most fun writing.**

 **Made for this World is a companion piece to The Lady Claimers, its about the details of what happened to Katie's husband and how she met Roberta and Addy. I let that one sit for a while with only the first chapter up, but I am currently posting updates on it if anyone is interested.**

 **The claimers are in this chapter, so there is going to be some sexual violence, implied rape and just general violence. I'm not going to lie, it's told through Beth's POV and it does get a little graphic. If you don't want to read it, you can always skip down to the line break without missing too much of the overall plotline. ****

Beth drifted in and out of conciousness. She woke for a few minutes, feeling the sensation of being inside a moving vehicle but the intense pounding in her head made her pass back out. When she woke up again, it was because she couldn't breathe. Something heavy was on top of her, crushing her chest.

Her head hurt and her hands were pinned under her, being painfully crushed beneath the weight of not only her own body but whatever was on top of her body. For a moment she was back on the farm and her dad's big dumb sheep dog had climbed into her bed again and decided to sleep on top of her. Stupid dog. Some of the weight lifted and instead of her chest, she felt her hips being crushed into the soft ground beneath her. Moisture from the ground was seeping through the fabric of her party dress. Beth opened her eyes, trying to figure out where she was and what was happening to her. Her vision was blurry and she felt the urge to rub her eyes. Since her hands were still pinned under her body, she wasn't able to do this and settled for trying to blink them a few times and clear the unshed tears out of them.

A knife. That was the first thing she saw. A wicked looking hunting knife that was razor sharp on one side and serrated on the opposite edge. The part of the handle that she could see was black with a twisted pattern in the leather. The man holding it had hairy knuckles and dirt crusted under his fingernails. Beth didn't scream, but she sucked in her breath. The knife swiped down and she prepared herself for the pain that would come with being stabbed in the chest. But there was only a slight burning sensation followed by the sound of ripping cloth. Whoever was on top of her hadn't stabbed her, he had nicked her chest as he cut her dress open.

Beth started breathing harder and faster, close to panic. She could see more clearly now, so she knew the reason she had not been able to breath before was because there was a large and slightly overweight man on top of her. He was shiny bald on top of his head with scraggly brown hair hanging down from the sides and back of his head. He cut her dress with the knife, then gripped the fabric and ripped the front of it the rest of the way open. With him sitting on her hips and her hands bound behind her back, there wasn't much she could do except start yelling.

"Get offa me," she hollered at the man. He only laughed and rubbed one grimy hand up over her stomach to grab at her breasts.

"GET THE FUCK OFF HER!"

The scream came from a few feet away. Beth twisted her neck to see who was yelling. Next to and slightly behind her she saw both the twins. They were sitting back to back with their wrists bound together. Beth could tell they were struggling to get to their feet but not getting very far very fast. She could only see Greg's face and he looked like someone had beat the holy crap out of him. One eye was swollen shut and his mouth was puffy with blood trickling out of the corner.

The man on top of Beth ignored the twins and pushed the cups of her bra down so he could pinch at the soft pink tips of her nipples. Before she could yell at him to stop another man approached from the opposite direction. He was darker skinned and had a bandana wrapped around his head. This man smacked at the man on top of Beth, hitting him hard upside the head with his open palm.

"Ya know I fuckin' claimed that one Dan," the man cursed, "look at 'er now, she's fuckin' bleedin' and shit, ya dumb asshole."

"Claimed my ass," the man on top of Beth yelled back, "ya ain't even fucked 'er yet!"

"I said I was waitin' until she woke up!," the man yelled back. He yanked at the larger man, trying to force him off Beth. She cringed back, hoping not to be cut again by the man's large knife, which was being fought over and tugged at dangerously close to her face and chest. Enough of the man's weight was lifted off Beth that she was able to push with her feet and wiggle her hips, scooting back and away from him. She felt like a wiggly worm on a hook. Turning over she got to her knees and half crawled half scooted over to where the twins were tied up.

The two men were still fighting. They were rolling around on the ground now, getting covered in leaves and dirt as they smacked and kicked at each other. Beth shook her head, trying to clear it and make some sense out of what the hell was going on around her. Besides the fight in front of her she could hear the sounds of another struggle going on further away and a girl crying out in pain. Now that she was sitting up she could also see Carl. His hat was missing and he had his hands bound behind him, tied to a small sapling tree. He was crying, the tears leaving clean streaks down his dirt smudged face.

"You okay?," Gannon asked. Beth nodded, looking down at herself and seeing that her breasts were still exposed and she couldn't do anything about it since her hands were tied behind her back.

"What the hell is happening?," Beth asked.

"The call from the survivor outpost," Greg explained, "it was a trick. These guys were waiting there to jump us." Beth swore under her breath, mostly at herself for being so stupid. She shifted around and wigged her shoulders, trying to get the cups of her bra back up and over her breasts where they belonged.

"Kneel down in front of me," Gannon said, his voice shaky with fear as he glanced back and forth from Beth's exposed breasts to the two men on the ground struggling with each other, "I'll help you." Beth wasn't sure how he could help, since his hands were also tied behind his back, but she did as Gannon told her, pulling herself up onto her knees and then straddling his legs. He gave her an apologetic half smile. Then he leaned his shaggy blonde head forward and grasped her bra carefully between his teeth, yanking the cups up so she was no longer exposed. Beth felt the tears spring into her eyes, her vision blurring again as she leaned forward to press her face into Gannon's neck, hugging him as best she could without the use of her hands or arms. The gesture was an odd one, but felt sweet and comforting given the situation they were in.

"Don't worry," he whispered, "my sisters'll come for us." Beth nodded as she climbed back off Gannon's lap and sat down next to him. She knew someone would come for them, but she doubted it would be soon enough to stop her from being raped.

The men on the ground were still struggling with each other when another man finally walked up and put a stop to it. He had wavy grey hair and a leather jacket on. There was some arguing between the three of them but the two men that had been fighting at least stopped hitting each other.

As she watched the exchange, Beth realized she had seen these men before. When they stopped the bus on the way to the compound after they left the prison, these were the men that Katie bought Kristin and Janelle from. To keep anyone from being hurt or killed fighting over the girls that these men were holding hostage, Katie had bought them from these men for a side of beef and a bottle of rum. The man with the bandana was the one that had yelled at Beth, asking her if she wanted to take a ride on his dick. This was not good.

"Go on and go fuck the tall girl," the man with the grey hair hollered at the fat man that had been on top of Beth. The man did a little more complaining, mostly about how he had already fucked that girl the last time they caught her, but he eventually stalked off with his hands in his pockets. The man with the grey hair did the same. Beth took a better look around her, trying to figure out where she was. The only landmark she could see was the high wall that circled around the outside perimeter of the compound. But she wasn't even sure if they were inside the wall or outside of it. She could see the truck they had driven to the outpost in, so she guessed they had to be outside. The only was in with a vehicle was through the front gate and there's no way these guys got through there. So they had to be outside.

Her feet weren't tied together. Beth was thinking about making a run for it. The problem with that was the outside wall of the compound went on for miles and miles. Even if her hands were free, it was too high to climb over. And while she might be able to get a running start, she had no idea how far she would have to run and which way she should go to get to the front gate. She doubted she would be able to get there before these men caught up with her. And all running away would do was earn her a beating to go with the rest of what they planned to do with her.

'Don't try to run," Gannon warned her. He must have felt the shift and tension in her body. "Lexi already tried that and they smacked the shit out of her." Beth sighed. There went that idea.

The man in the bandana crotched down in front of Beth. She flinched back, expecting him to make a grab for her, but all he did was wipe at the blood trickling down her chest from where the other man had cut her with his knife. He used a dirty hanky that looked like it hadn't been washed since the beginning of the outbreak.

"Don't use that dirty rag," Gannon hissed at the man, "there's a medical bag in the truck." The man turned his attention from Beth to the boy.

"Don't look much like twins with your brother's eye all swollen up like that," the man informed him. His fist came down, fast and hard, knocking Gannon's head back into his brother's with an audible thump. He punched him in the eye. Not hard enough to break anything or knock him out. Just hard enough to hurt him and make his eye swell up. "That's better," the man said, coughing out a laugh.

When he got done punching the boy, the man did stomp over to the truck as Gannon had suggested, keeping an eye on Beth as he dug through the bag he retrieved from the front seat. He wasn't worried about her getting away, he was worried about someone else trying to claim his prize. She was a pretty one. He didn't want anyone roughing her up before he got his turn with her. Dan's stupid fat ass already cut her up, marking her smooth pale skin. Didn't see soft skin like that much anymore. Most women they found were darkly tanned from bring outside in the elements all day long. Plus they were always dirty and smelly.

The man returned from the truck with the med bag. He rooted through it, finding an alcohol wipe. He ripped open the packet and pulled the wipe out, using it to clean up the cut on Beth's chest. She cringed at the sting and was surprised when the man leaned forward and blew on it for her. For just a flash of a second she thought maybe the man was not like these other men. He punched Gannon. But maybe he wasn't so bad. For just that moment she had a glimmer of hope, thinking there was a chance she might be able to talk him into helping her. But then he looked down at her bra, his face twisting up into a sickening smile.

"Name's Tony," he told her. Beth forced herself to smile back, but his eyes were still lingering on her body. Then he gripped her by the chin, to look over her face. "Remember ma name lil'girl, yer gonna be screamin' it real soon."

Beth bit her lip, fighting back the bile that was rising up from her gut. She wanted to be strong, but she could already feel the tears that were welling up in her eyes. All the junk she had been eating all day long at the wedding was churning up inside her. Her head was still pounding from where she had been hit and knocked out. Without warning puke came projecting out of her down the front of Tony's shirt. Half digested wedding cake and pulled pork, plus everything else she had been nibbling on all day long.

The man cursed and jumped back, hands outstretched as he looked down at himself and tried to figure out what to do about the chunky vomit he was covered in. His face was going pale and he looked ready to barf himself. Despite the recent punch to the eye he had taken, Beth could feel Gannon shaking with laughter behind her.

"That was great Beth," he said whispered, cheering her on. He hadn't seen anyone vomit with that ferocity since the time his nephew Bash climbed onto the top of the fridge and ate almost an entire chocolate cake before Katie caught him. That shit had come flinging out of Beth like pea soup excorcist vomit, completely soaking the creepy rapist dude in front of her. Gannon was pretty sure some of it had even gotten in the guy's mouth.

Before anything else could happen, another man strode over and dragged Beth to her feet. The man that Beth barfed on knelt down and untied the rope that was holding the twins together. Both their wrists was still bound with duct tape. Beth and Gannon were marched a few yards away to stand with the man that had broken up the fight earlier.

Beth felt like they were being marched out to stand in front of an invisible audience, until she followed the leader man's gaze. He was looking up at one of the cameras on the wall. And there was a satellite phone in his hand. Beth felt another surge of hope. This man didn't intend to keep them, he was trying to ransom or sell them back to Katie. That must be why the boys were still alive. The man grabbed her by the hair and kissed her on the mouth. He tasted worse than the bile in her mouth and when she tried to yank away he slapped her hard across the face. Then he lifted his gun up. She was afraid he was going to shoot her, but instead he shot the camera out instead.

"Time to go!," Joe shouted, "if they haven't figured out where we are by now, they will soon."

Beth and the rest of her group were forced into the back of their own pickup truck. Lexi had to be lifted up and tossed in. Her ankles were bound along with her hands and there was duct tape over her mouth. Beth guessed that in addition to trying to escape, the girl had tried kicking and biting these men. Kristin also had her mouth taped, but from the scared look in her wide eyes, Beth figured she was gagged because she wouldn't stop screaming. Beth decided to keep her mouth shut.

The men drove them to an abandoned farm house a few miles away. The drive was long and they had to go around a few fallen trees. Beth twisted her wrists behind her, trying to see if she could wiggle out of the tape. The skin and hair on her wrists was pulling painfully but she was starting to get a little more wiggle room inside the tape.

Whoever was driving pulled the truck around the back of the house and parked. The man Beth had barfed on grasped her by the arm and marched her inside. She caught a glimpse of the man with the grey hair talking into the phone he had been holding earlier as he got out of the truck. Beth expected the man to deposit her into the living room of the house while the other men marched everyone else inside. But he didn't. He kept a tight hold on her arm and dragged her all the way upstairs. The man started peeking into the rooms until he found one to his liking. Then he dragged her back down the hall to the top of the stairs.

"Room at the end of the hall is CLAIMED!," he yelled down the stairs at his companions. Beth wrinkled up her nose. These men kept repeating that word. Claimed. It was a strange word to keep using too. They were such a rough group of men, yet they were calling dibs on things like they were children.

Once he had made his announcement, the man dragged Beth back down the hall towards the room of his choosing. She had walked along with him willingly so he had slightly loosened his grip on her arm. Once they were in the doorway, she yanked out of his grasp and tried to make a last ditch effort run for it. The man caught her again before she even made it halfway down the hall.

Downstairs Beth heard loud angry voices and horrible thumping noises that sounded like someone being beaten half to death. She also saw a man with dark hair and a dark beard coming up the stairs. He was carrying Lexi over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. The girl was thrashing and fighting, but there was only so much she could do with her hands and ankles bound tightly together. The man carrying her turned to head into one of the bedrooms and Beth was able to make eye contact with her for just a moment before Tony dragged her into the bedroom he had picked out and slammed the door shut behind them.

Once he had Beth pinned on the bed she could see why he had picked this room out of all the rooms on the floor. The head board was a pattern made of slatted wood. The man pinned her underneath him and cut the tape on her wrists, then he forced her hands above her head and duct taped her wrists to the headboard. With her arms stretched apart, she felt even more vulnerable than she had with her hands taped behind her back. With the knife he had used to cut the tape on her wrists, the man slashed at what remained of her clothes. The best thing Beth could think of about her situation was that at least he was being careful not to cut her with the knife. Though bleeding to death might be better than what was about to happen to her.

The man ripped the rest of her clothes away, leaving only her bra. Since he had slashed through the front of it where the tiny pink bow was, it hung open, dangling from her shoulders. He groped at her breasts, fondling her nipples intil they went hard in his fingers despite her disgust at what was being done to her. Then he moved down, forcing her legs apart and lowering his face between her legs. He buried his face into the soft mound of curls above her opening and smelled her. She felt his tounge flick out, tasting her. Beth twisted her hips, trying in any way she could to move herself back and away from the man and his slimy searching tounge. He had her thighs pinned down with his forearms, spread wide open. When she started bucking beneath him to get him off he took it to mean she was enjoying his advances.

"Be a good girl and cum for me," the man told her with a sickening laugh, "and I'll let you pick which hole I fuck you in first."

"GET OFF ME YOU PERVERT!," Beth screamed at the man. Before today, she had sex before. But only a few times, with Jimmy. Back when they had still been on her Daddy's farm. But Jimmy had never put his face between her legs. She was disgusted with what was being done to her, and she felt even more sick that she could feel her body start to respond to what was being done to her against her will. Beth started to cry. That made the man start laughing at her.

Having grown bored with smelling and tasting her, the man got up and headed into the bathroom that was attached to the bedroom they were in. He made a few excited comments when he realized the water faucet in the sink worked. Then Beth heard the rustle of the man removing his clothes. She twisted and turned, struggling with the tape that was holding her to the bed. The sound of him stripping was replaced with the sound of running water in the bathroom. The man was calling out to her as he washed her vomit off his body, telling her what he was going to do to her. Beth squeezed her eyes shut and willed herself to pass back out. She was not going to be able to get loose from the tape that was holding her and this man was going to be able to do whatever he wanted to her. There was nothing she could do about it.

When she opened her eyes again, she almost cried out in surprise. The man was still in the bathroom, but she was no longer alone in the bedroom. Daryl was easing the door shut behind him, moving silently across the room. Beth was so happy to see him, all the embarassment she would have normally felt at being naked in front of him went completely out the window. He held a finger to his lips, signaling her to keep quiet. Then he flattened himself against the wall next to the bathroom door, his hunting knife raised to shoulder level.

The water in the bathroom turned off. The man appeared in the doorway, naked except for the bandana on his head. He had a jar of vaseline in his hands.

"Got a present for ya," he informed Beth.

"Fuck you!," she hollered out, making sure to keep the man's attention on her so he wouldn't see Daryl. It worked, the man walked right past him into the room.

"Hey asshole," Daryl said. The man turned, a look of genuine surprise on his face. Daryl lunged forward, stabbing him through the eye socket. The man fell backwards with Daryl on top of him, the small tub of lubricant still cluched in his hands. Daryl sat on top of the other man's chest, stabbing him over and over again in the face until Beth called out for him to stop.

TWD

Katie threw the phone across the room. It hit the wall and shattered into pieces. She was trying to strap on her gun belt and hadn't realized it was still in her hand. Another body bumped into hers and she looked up, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw Hex was next to her, strapping on a gun over the slim black dress that she had worn to the wedding. Cassandra pushed into the room with them, Andrea and Michonne close behind them. Michonne must have ran and got them instead of leaving with Mandy and the first group. Katie felt like she was swimming under water. Each one of her movements seemed to take double the time it was actually taking. Within minutes they were geared up and running for the front door.

Hex lingered behind just for a moment, assuring Milton that she would be fine and that he should stay at the compound and start rousting everyone out in case their home was attacked. Then she ran for the door. She hit the van just as Katie was firing up the engine, jumping inside and sliding the door closed behind her. The truck the first group had taken was already long gone, but Katie knew where they were going.

Katie was a crazy driver even under normal circumstances. That was why they almost never let her drive the bus. Hex strapped on her safety belt. She had her gun in her hands, ready to start shooting if she needed to. It had been a while since she had been out. Too long. But there were some things a person never forgot. How to shoot straight was one of them. Katie and her sister had taught her, all those years ago when she came to live with them on their farm. She got good quick. And she found out Katie was right. After Hex learned to shoot, she wasn't afraid anymore.

Andrea was in the front seat, riding shotgun. She had the window rolled down with her rifle poking out. As soon as the house they were driving towards became visible she had her sights set on it. The truck the others had taken was pulled up in the front yard, doors hanging open. Katie pulled up next to it and slammed the van in park. She could already hear shots being fired inside the house.

The front door flung open and man came running out. His head was bald and he was holding his arm, which was bleeding profusely. Andrea shot him in the head and dropped him before he even got down off the front porch. The shooting had stopped inside. Addy appeared in the doorway, letting them know it was clear and they could come inside.

Katie rushed up the steps first. Inside she found her sister Mandy on the floor with Gannon's head in her lap. Katie sucked in her breath, and rushed to his side. Her bare knees hit the hardwood floor with a painful thump that she didn't notice.

"He's still breathin'," Mandy assured her. Katie nodded, gently stroking her brother's hair back from his face with her hand. The kid looked terrible. Like someone had kicked him nearly to death. There wasn't an inch on his body that wasn't bruised or bloodied. He was missing a few teeth and his eyes were swollen shut. But the worst was the darkening spot on the side of his lower back. He was bleeding internally.

"We have to get him back to medical now," Katie said. Mandy nodded. Roberta and Rick were already rigging up a makeshit stretcher for him.

"I'll take him back," Mandy told her, "stay here and deal with this." Katie nodded. If she went with Gannon, she was going to have a breakdown and what he needed around him right now was people that were calm. Gannon was quickly loaded into the back of the truck. Mandy drove, Cassandra and Hex rode in back with him to keep him from being tossed around.

Katie watched them drive away, then she turned her attention to the scene in the living room of what used to be her neighbor's house. Who knew what happened to the neighbors. They had been an older couple who's kids were grown and gone. Tom came for them back at the beginning of the outbreak but they were already long gone.

She looked around, taking stock of the situation. Greg looked a little beat up but it was clear he would live. Carl looked the same. His dad was on the couch with him, his arm around the boy's shoulders. Kristin was on the couch next to them. Her dress was torn and she was crying into Addy's shoulder. Most of Joe's group were lying dead on the floor. Lexi looked more beat up than Kristin, but Katie guessed she had put up a fight. Most of the blood on her didn't look like it was hers.

Katie heard a creak on the steps and looked up to see Daryl coming down the steps with Beth in his arms. He had blood splattered all over his face and hands but like the blood on Lexi, it didn't look like it was his. She was wrapped up in a blanket, her blonde head resting on his shoulder. The problem now was the two men that had not been killed in the fight. Lexi had knocked out the man that was raping her and she had him tied up on the floor next to his dead friends. Joe had also been taken alive. Tackled by Rick and Merle as he tried to make a run for it out the kitchen door. They had him tied to a chair. Merle was pointing a gun at him. Michonne was standing close by, her sword in her hands.

"You should just shoot them now," Rick said, directing his comments towards Merle, since he was the one that had a gun pointed at the men. Merle glanced towards Katie, wanting to check for her approval before he shot these men. He didn't take orders from Rick.

"No," Katie said, shaking her head.

"We can't just let them go," Rick protested. They had let these men go last time and look at what happened. All of this could have been avoided if they had killed them weeks ago when they had the chance.

"We aren't going to let them go," Katie said, "I have something else in mind." She looked at Roberta, who seemed to have guessed what she was thinking. The woman gave a slight nod of her head. Both Merle and Rick were staring at their women, trying to figure out what the hell assorted nonsense was going on now. Katie was smiling like she had gone completely insane. Roberta was staring at the tied up men with a look of hatred and disgust on her face. By this time, Lexi had caught on to what was going on. She wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and smiled back at her aunt.

"We are going to take them to meet a special friend of ours," Lexi informed the men.

"What the hell are you going to do with us?," the man that had raped her hollered up from the floor. Lexi leaned down and slapped him hard across the face. Then she stood up and kicked him in the dick.

"Don't worry," she assured him, "Yer gonna get just what you deserve."


	38. Chapter 38

The Lady Claimers

Chapter 38

"We walk from here," Katie said after she pulled the truck to a stop and climbed out. She had driven as far into the woods as she could, following the old tractor trail. It had been years since the last time anyone went on a Halloween hayride through these woods. The gravel trail was overgrown and finally the brush got to thick for her to pass through in the large truck she was driving.

Merle had been hunting these woods since almost the first day they arrived at the compound. But he had never been to this particular section. Rich had warned him away from the northeast corner. Of course that piqued his curiosity and he headed out here right away. But he stopped when he saw the signs. They were hot pink of course, which meant Katie or her girls had put them there. And they read CAUTION, LEG TRAPS.

After his experience losing his hand, the thought of being caught in a bear trap was even less appealing than it would have been before the turn. He had no desire to have his ankles broken or to be stuck out here until someone noticed he was gone and came looking for him. The enclosed woods outside the compound were large enough for someone to become lost and possibly never be found. So after he saw the signs, Merle made sure to keep well clear of the area. Now that they had driven straight into it, he was starting to feel anxious and more than a little confused.

Out of the men that had kidnapped the group of young people from their camp, two of them were left alive. They were tied up in the back of the truck. Roberta rode in the cab of the truck with Katie. Beth was sandwiched between them, still wearing nothing but an old quilt wrapped around her shoulders. The men were tied up, but Merle kept his gun pointed at them anyway. He noticed that Rick was doing the same, and Daryl had his knife in his hands. Merle guessed that like him, the other men were wondering where they were going and why they hadn't just killed these men back at the farm house. Merle had been afraid at first that Katie planned to take these men home with them, but once they were inside the main gate, she turned off on a path that he had never been on before. Now he was too curious about what was about to happen to make any protests.

The day had been a long one and even thought it was getting to the time of year that it was light out until much later, the sun was dipping low in the sky. Katie and Roberta took a few flashlights from the glove box. There had been no time to change clothes, so they were both still in the party dresses they had worn to the wedding.

"What are you doin' with us?," Joe asked once he saw Katie appear in his limited field of vision.

"Whatever we want," she informed him, "...the same thing you did to us." Her voice had a hard edge to it, one Merle hadn't heard before. He was wary of her for the first time since he had seen her again at the prison. Katie was impulsive, but she wasn't the type of person that got angry easily. Not at him anyway. He would never admit it, but he was glad the anger he saw in her face now wasn't being directed at him.

"Get out and get on your feet," Katie ordered the men. She wasn't giving them a choice, she was giving them an order. Joe climbed out and got to his feet next to her. When the other man hesitated, Lexi climbed to her feet in the bed of the truck and kicked him to get him moving.

"Don't make it so he can't walk," Roberta cautioned the younger woman, "I'm not carrying his ass." Lexi nodded and backed off. It was obvious she had been beaten rather badly herself. She hissed in pain as she tried to climb down from the bed of the truck. Darly hopped down and reached up for her. Lexi hesistated a moment and then edged towards him, letting him lift her down onto the ground. Beth was standing next to the truck, the soft layer of leaves on the forest floor crunching under her bare feet. She spoke quietly to Lexi.

"Should I wait here?"

Lexi shook her head and told her the same thing she had told Kristin on the way back here, "You're gonna want to see this." Beth nodded and pulled the blanket more tightly around her shoulders.

The second car pulled up behind the truck. Addy was driving, and Katie had not been sure if the woman was going back to camp or follow her. Greg was in the backseat and as she saw him climb out, Katie questioned what she was doing for the first time. Keeping her baby brothers safe and protected from the horror of this world was something she had worked hard to do. But then the picture of Gannon's broken and bloody frame flashed before her eyes. Both boys had already seen the worst of humanity today. Watching what she was about to do to these men wasn't going to damage her brother any more than he had already been hurt. She motioned for Greg to come closer to her. Michonne and Carl were the last to climb from the car. The boy looked scared and appeared so much younger than he had looked a few hours before, clinging to Michonne's hand and regarding the men that had taken him hostage with large frightened eyes.

Once everyone seemed ready, Roberta shoved at the men and started marching them into the woods. When they didn't walk fast enough, Lexi prodded at them with a cattle prod she had taken from inside the truck. Not shocking them hard enough to drop them to the ground, just enough to make it hurt.

"What about the leg traps?," Greg asked. Merle breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want to ask about the traps, but he was nervous about them. It was getting dark and hard for him to see where he was stepping. He was glad the boy had saved him from making the inquiry.

"There aren't any traps," Katie said, "we just put those signs up to keep people away from here." She offered no further explanation and no one asked for one. Whatever the girls were hiding out here, Merle had a feeling he was all about to find out what it was whether he wanted to or not.

They walked for what was only about a mile, but felt like a lot longer. The only sounds were the heavy breathing of the group and the occasional zap of Lexi's cattle prod as it came into contact with the man that had assaulted her. At one point, the former leader of the group tried to make a run for it. He only made it a few feet before Rick and Daryl were on him. After a few punches to the face and gut, he was dragged back onto his feet and forced to walk again. This time the men flanked him on either side to prevent another escape.

The flashlights seemed to get brighter, but really it was the light around them that was fading. Merle stuck close to Katie and her brother. They were holding hands, so he walked behind them. When her steps slowed to a stop, he looked up ahead, seeing a large fenced in area. The light from her flashlight reflected off the metal of the chain link fence.

There was nothing inside the fence except a large metal shed. If he had to guess he would say the enclosed area was about 20 feet square. Even in the dim light Merle could see that there was some old dried blood smeared on the chain link of the fence. The shed was being kept closed by a thick chain that was threaded through the double doors. At first, Merle assumed that Katie planned to lock these men up inside the shed. But then he heard a low growl. The noise had to come from some kind of animal, but he couldn't tell what sort. It almost sounded more like a giant biter was locked up inside that shed.

"What in the fuck was that?," one of the captive men hollered. He darted to his left like he was going to try and run. Addy stuck her leg out and tripped him. Then she and Roberta seized him an started dragging him towards the enclosure. After only a few steps, the man went into full panic mode. He started fighting them as best he could with his hands bound, kicking and flopping around on the ground. At the sound of the scuffle, whatever was inside the shed growled again, much louder than before.

Despite their struggles, the two men were forced inside the fenced area. Katie lifted the combination lock that was keeping the shed doors closed. She dropped it and jumped back as the doors pushed out. A large black clawed paw snaked through the crack and the hinges of the doors groaned under the pressure. Katie jumped back but she didn't run. She waited until the paw pulled back inside the shed and then she grabbed the lock again, twisting the lock quickly until the numbers were lined up and the lock popped open.

"Go it," she hissed, "Go!" Daryl didn't ask why. He yanked his foot off the man he was pinning to the ground and ran for the open gate. Katie gave him and the other people that had assisted in dragging the men inside the enclosure a few seconds head start. Then she ripped the chain from the doors and ran after them. Roberta was on the gate of the enclosure, slamming it shut behind her and locking it.

Merle noticed the girls got back from the fence, giving it a few feet of clearance. But they didn't run. They waited. The few of them that were still holding flashlights pointed the lights inside the fence so everyone could see what was about to happen.

The two men inside the fence managed to get to their feet. One ran for the fence, throwing his body against it. He couldn't climb it with his hands tied together but he tried, getting only a few feet up before he fell backwards onto his ass in the dirt. Joe was slightly smarter, heading for the gate of the enclosure and trying to force the door open. Then he started screaming for Katie to let him out.

"Let me the fuck out of here!," he hollered, "you can't do this to me! This shit ain't right."

"Now you care about what's right?," Kristin hollered back, "you didn't care while you and your friends were raping me!" Addy's arm went around the girl's waist, not just to offer her comfort but also to make sure Kristin didn't move any closer to the fence. The yelling had excited the animal that was still shut inside the shed. The doors swung open with the force of impact, swinging outward and slapping against the sides of the metal shed with a loud clang. There were no more growls, but instead a full fledged roar.

A huge black bear came padding out of the shed. Its claws were long and sharp, leaving marks in the dirt as it shuffled along. It was moving awkwardly for such an animal and as Merle looked closer he realized it's back left leg was stripped of flesh down to the exposed bones. Patches of it's fur were missing and it was covered in dried blood and gore. It's lips had rotted back, leaving it's teeth exposed and giving it a menacing look. He realized why he had not recognized the sound of the growls before. This was no ordinary bear.

"That's a fucking zombie bear!," Greg hollered, stating the obvious. He sounded halfway between being really excited and totally horrified. It was obvious that out of the group, some of them had no idea that the bear was being kept out here. Merle observed the women. This was easy to do without them noticing since they were all focused on what was happening inside the fence.

Katie clearly knew about the bear. Roberta knew. Addy and Lexi knew. But that was about it. Everyone else looked as shocked as he felt. He was suprised, but that feeling was slowly giving way to a fair amount of anger. He had been out here hunting in these woods. Sometimes alone. Without any knowledge that there was a five hundred pound undead black bear only a few miles away. He wasn't sure if he was more angry that he had unknowingly put himself in danger, or that Katie had been keeping secrets from him.

"This is bullshit," one of the men screamed, "you can't feed us to a fuckin' bear!" He gripped at the fence again, trying unsucessfully to climb it with his wrists bound together. His loud protest caused the bear to set it's milky eyes on him. The animal rose up onto it's back legs and roared. The noise was almost deafening and had an eerie quality to it. Like it was the echo of the animal that used to live inside the mutilated body of the bear. The man screamed again and tried to run but it was too late. The bear descended on him, claws ripping into flesh. He was still alive and screaming when it started to eat him.

Beth turned, vomiting up anything that was left inside her after she had already puked earlier. She vomited, but she didn't stop watching. The carnage inside the fence was probably the most horrific thing she had ever seen, but this feeling was tempered with the knowledge that the men inside were getting just what they deserved. They had treated her no better than an animal and now they were going to be eaten by one.

No one spoke. The only sounds were roaring grumbles and the screams of the men inside the enclosure. Joe tired making his escape while the bear was busying killing his companion, but the fences had been built to keep a bear inside. The gate was not going to give under the weight of an average build man, not even if that man was in a frenzied panic to escape.

Once he realized there was no way he was getting out, Joe started begging. "Let me out I swear I'm sorry," he pleaded. When that didn't work, he addressed Katie personally. "Come on Katie, you made your point. Let me out, I swear I'll never bother you again."

Greg was standing with his sister, his arm around her shoulders and her arm around his waist. He tightened his grip on her when the man started calling her by name. This man knew were they lived. Even if they weren't going to feed him to a bear, they could never let him leave alive. He felt bad for the man, but only for a moment. Then he felt Kristin crowding in on the other side of him. He liked Kristin and was starting to care about her as more than just a friend. One side of her mouth was swollen and bleeding and he knew that she had gotten a lot worse than a slap in the mouth from these men. He looked at her and he thought about his brother and how Gannon might end up permanently disfigured from what these men did to him. He thought about his brother and and Kristin. He thought about his cousin Lexi and Beth, who was probably one of the sweetest and most gentle people he had ever met. He thought about them and he didn't feel any more pity for the men in the cage.

TWD

Once the carnage was over and the bear had been lured back into the metal shed, everyone climbed back into the truck and the car they had come in. The short drive passed by in silence, no one knowing quite what to say about what they had witnessed. When they got back the group separated. Roberta and Rick took Carl home. Addy left with Lexi and Michonne put her arm around Kristin as they headed back towards the cabins. Merle went with Katie and her brother to the infimary to check on Gannon. This left Daryl and Beth standing next to the truck together. She took a wobbly step, almost falling into the side of the truck. Daryl caught her, keeping his hand on her shoulder even after she was steady on her feet.

"You want me to take ya to yer room?," he asked. Beth thought about it. Her dad was in the infirmary. She didn't know where her sister was. It was possible Maggie had gone home and went to bed without ever knowing that anything had happened at all. And being alone in her room after what happened to her did not sound appealing. Beth shook her head.

"Can I come home with you?," she asked. Daryl thought about her request for only a fraction of a second.

"A'course," he agreed. Beth didn't look like she was going to make the long walk back to Katie's house so Daryl helped her into one of the golf carts that were lined up near the main house getting their batteries charged. The ride was as quiet as the previous one had been. Daryl helped her into the house, keeping an arm around her shoulders to steady her. The poor girl looked dead on her feet. Martinez was in the kitchen, drinking a beer and waiting for Maria to get back from the medical building. Daryl quickly filled him in on what had happened, making sure to leave out the part about the zombie bear that was locked up out in the woods. That situation was going to have to be dealt with later, and Daryl figured the less people that knew about it the better.

Martinez was nice enough to help and Daryl was grateful to him. He had brought Beth home with him because she asked him to, but once he got her there he really had no idea what to do with her. Martinez got Beth some clothes from Maria's room that she could borrow for the night. Beth asked to use the shower and once she was bathed and dressed Martinez suggested that she sleep in Maria's daughter's room. There was a spare bed in there that got used to belong to Maria's younger brother before he got too big and decided to go stay with Katie's brothers instead.

With Beth safely tucked away, Daryl climbed into the shower himself. He let the hot water slide over him as he tried to relax and put the events of the day behind him. Hershel's wedding seemed like it had happened weeks ago instead of only a few hours before. Some changes were going to have to be made. Mostly to insure that no one walked into another trap like the kids had done today. His people hadn't gotten weaker, but living at the compound had made them all more trusting. Maybe too trusting. There was no way Beth and Carl would have walked into a trap like that back when they had all been living at the prison. They had started believing in the goodness of people again, and despite the events of the day Daryl was having a hard time convincing himself that was a bad thing. He twisted the water off and shook the jumbled thoughts from his mind.

Wrapping a towel around his waist, he headed for his room. Daryl stopped in the doorway. Beth was sitting on his bed. Her hair was still damp from her earlier shower and she was chewing at her thumbnail. The soft cotton pajama pants she had on were too long for her and only the painted tips of her toes stuck out from beneath them. Daryl seemed so surprised to see her sitting there that it almost sent her scurrying from the room.

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, "I was scared alone in there."

Daryl didn't answer her right away, choosing instead to fumble for a shirt and yank it over his head. Beth stood up and turned around, trying to give him some measure of privacy while he changed from his towel into a pair of plaid sleep pants similar to the ones that she had on except for the color.

"I'm sorry," Beth said again, "I can leave if you want to be alone."

"Nah," Daryl finally answered back, "s'alright." He didn't mind that Beth was in his room, sitting on his bed. In fact he had a few masturbatory fantasies that started out that way. She had just taken him by surprise. "Goin' to have a smoke," he informed her in his straightforward way, "my mind's racin'." Beth nodded. Smoking herself stupid and forgetting about the whole entire day sounded like just about the best idea she had ever heard. Martinez had offered her one of the valiums that Katie kept hidden on the top shelf in the closet but Beth had turned him down. As soon as she laid down and closed her eyes, she regretted it. All Beth could see was that man on top of her again. She lay there imagining every horrible thing he would have done to her if Daryl hadn't showed up when he did.

Daryl poked through the top drawer of his dresser and came up empty. He motioned for Beth to follow him as he headed down the hall to Katie's room. Daryl knew Katie could care less if he went poking around in her room looking for weed, but it still felt wrong to him. He justified it by telling himself this was Merle's room too so he was really only borrowing from his brother, not stealing from Katie.

They went out onto Katie's sun porch, lighting a few of her rosemary candles to keep the mosquitoes away. There was a paperback book lying face down on the table and Beth picked it up, reading the title with half hearted interest before she set it back where she had found it. Beth had never been in Katie's room before and she found it funny that two people who seemed to be interested in doing nothing but humping each other's brains out would have so many books piled up on both sides of their bed. She took a long slow drag on the lit pipe Daryl handed her and tried not to giggle at the mental image of Katie and Merle reading books in bed together.

"What's funny?," Daryl asked. Beth had visibly relaxed. She leaned back against the chair she was sitting in, curling her legs up under her.

"Nothing," she said, "just trying to figure out when Katie and your brother find the time to read." Daryl laughed, coughing a bit on the smoke he was trying to hold in his lungs.

"They read after they get done humpin'," he informed the girl, "I hear them." Beth giggled and he realized how what he said must have come out all wrong.

"I don't hear 'em humpin'," Daryl corrected, even though it was a lie. He heard them getting it on. It was sort of hard to avoid since whenever Katie's kid was up at the main house her gram they were loud as hell and didn't care who heard them. If they really got going Maria would pound on the door and tell them to shut the fucking hell up. That was why Daryl liked Maria.

"I hear 'em reading aloud to each other."

"Oh," Beth said, "that's kind of sweet." She took one last puff on the glass pipe, seeing that the weed inside it had mostly burned away leaving just a few smoldering red embers inside. Daryl got up, turning to blow out the candle that was on the table behind him. Beth did the same. They walked silently back inside and down the hall to Daryl's room. As he held up the covers so Beth could climb under, he closed his eyes and said a small silent thank you to Katie and Maria for coming into his room and changing his sheets and blankets even though he had told them both a hundred times to stop doing things like that for him.

Beth slid across the bed and laid her head down on the pillow on the far side of the bed. Daryl thought about saying something. She was not lying on the guest pillow, she was lying on his pillow. The one that he liked best because it was just the right amount of fluffy. The guest pillow had not been properly broken in yet. Beth's hair was spread out all over his pillow already and as she snuggled into she made a soft little moan of pleasure. He quickly decided that after what she had been through earlier that day she could sleep on whatever pillow she liked.

Daryl slid under the covers, trying to get comfortable on his too fluffy pillow. He punched at it a few times, which made it slightly better. Beth had her back to him, but even in the dim light from the hall he could see the curve of her slim hip under the blankets. He had slept in bed with her once before, when they stayed the night out at the cabin, and she smelled every bit as good as he remembered. Most of the girls he had been with smelled like booze or smoke mixed with cheap perfume. Even Addy. But Beth smelled like soap but with a hint of hay from working out in the barn so much.

Beth's breathing was slowing down. Getting more heavy and even. He wanted to curl in behind her, like he had done the last time he slept with her. Not to grope or fondle her, just to hold her and smell her hair. But after what had happened to her earlier in the day, Daryl wasn't sure if she would want another man so close to her.

Beth made another soft noise like the one she made when she was cuddling into Daryl's pillow. Then she rolled over and curled into him, lying her head on his chest and hiking one slim leg over him. She mumbled something that didn't make sense so Daryl guessed she was somewhere between half asleep and all the way high. She had initiated the contact so he felt comfortable wrapping one strong arm around her and pulling the girl closer to him. He let his lips brush against her forehead. Daryl fell asleep to the feel of her heart beating against his chest.

 **** Those who watch Z nation might have had some idea what was inside that shed. They have it all on that show, including zombie bears and weed that's fertilized with dead zombie bodies. Thanks to all my readers and anyone that took the time to leave a review. ****


	39. Chapter 39

The Lady Claimers

Chapter 39

He was mad as hell at her. More angry than Merle could ever remember being at a woman. Women had annoyed him before. But he had never really felt betrayed by one. Then again he had never really trusted one before. Merle told himself that he was pissed at Katie for not telling him about the bear they had fenced up out in the woods. He had been out hunting in those woods almost every damn day. That fucking bear could have gotten loose and killed him. He told himself that's why he was angry. But really he was hurt, upset that she had been keeping things from him. He had been thinking of her as more than just a piece of ass. He had been thinking of her as a partner. Someone he could maybe even depend on. Now he wasn't so sure.

As they walked out of the what served as the hospital of the camp, Merle was fully prepared to open his big mouth and really lay into her. But the expression on Katie's face snapped his mouth shut in a hurry. She looked beaten. Dark circles had formed under her red rimmed eyes and her bottom lip was red and raw from being bitten and chewed on. The slightly younger of her two twin brothers was finally in stable condition. Gannon had lost a lot of blood, several teeth and probably the sight in one of his eyes. Katie had given her own blood twice so the boy could be transfused while Hershel fixed whatever part of him was bleeding on the inside.

Katie was pale under the smeared makeup she had carefully applied for her grandmother's wedding ceremony. Her dress was dirty and the hem of it was torn. Part of a leaf was caught in her hair, which was looking lopsided now that half the curls had fallen out of it. She stumbled and almost lost her footing on her way to the small golf cart she was shuffling towards. Merle caught her. Instead of yelling, he lifted her up into his arms and carried her the last few steps, setting her down carefully in the passenger seat of the cart. He didn't drive her back to her house. Her son was sleeping up at the main house and he knew she would want to be with the boy. So he slung and arm around the drowsy woman and let her rest her tired head on his shoulder.

Katie wasn't shy with her feelings about him. She told Merle she loved him often. And he usually said it back to her. But he hadn't really ever stopped to think about what the words actually meant. Mostly he just thought about how much he enjoyed having sex with her and how he wanted to keep doing it with her as often as she was willing to let him. Still wanting a woman after he had smelled her morning breath and seen her pee behind a tree in the woods. That was love. As he drove, Merle realized he had managed to keep his anger under control, maybe for the first time in his life. He hugged Katie closer to him, feeling oddly proud of himself. He had put her needs and feelings ahead of his own, something he had never done before for anyone. Not even for Daryl. Not really.

By the time they pulled up outside the main house Katie had passed out. Merle lifted her from the cart and carried her inside, grateful when her grandmother appeared at the door and held it open for him.

"He's gonna live," Merle told the woman. He knew Hershel wasn't back yet and he wasn't sure if anyone had told her yet how Gannon was doing. The woman nodded her head and gave him a halfhearted smile that made him realize how much she and Katie resembled each other. She was wearing a long flannel nightgown and her long white hair hung down around her face in waves from the braids the girls had twisted it up into for her wedding. As he passed by her, the older woman laid her hand on his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

On his way down the hall, Merle passed by the kitchen. Several women were gathered around the table. A few of them were crying. Milton was pouring a cup of steaming tea for the woman with the long dark hair that he had been sleeping with. Merle was too tired to try and remember her name but he knew she took care of the horses.

The day had taken a strange turn. It had started out so joyful and ended on such a horrible note, most people seemed unsettled by it. Merle felt a little unsettled himself, unsure of his feelings surrounding everything that had happened.

Nudging the bedroom door open with his hip, Merle turned and kicked it closed again with the toe of his boot to keep the bright light from the hall from streaming in and waking the small child that was fast asleep in the middle of the large queen sized bed. Merle sat Katie down on the edge of the bed before kneeling down to pull her shoes off. The hem of her dress was torn and bloody, dark as the cotton swab that had been hastily taped to the inside of her elbow where her blood had been pumped from her body and into the body of her younger brother. Merle reached behind her, tugging the zipper of her dress down. She blinked her eyes half open, struggling to her feet and allowing him to undress her as is she was a small child instead of a grown woman.

There was a old worn in terrycloth bathrobe hanging on the inside of the bedroom door. Merle managed to keep Katie on her feet long enough to get her arms into the sleeves and tie the belt loosely around her waist. He pulled back the covers and shooed her into the large bed. Katie didn't need much encouragement. She slid in and curled her body around her son's, tucking him into her like they were two spoons lying on edge.

Merle kicked his boots off and pulled the buckles of his arm peice loose. He made sure to put the metal sleeve up on top of the tall dresser in the corner to made sure Katie's son didn't get ahold of it. Nothing seemed to fascinate the boy more than the arm piece Merle wore to cover the jagged stump where his hand used to be. When it was off Bash would crowd in close, running the tips of his fingers gently over the rippled angry flesh that still often caused Merle pain and discomfort. His blue eyes would open wide as he asked the same question he always asked, which was what happened to Merle's hand. _Where your hand go, Marl?_ If Katie was around, she would tell the boy a warning story. _That's what happens when you play around on the farming equiptment._ If she wasn't around, Merle got a kick out of telling the kid even wilder stories. His hand had been bitten off by a rabid tiger, ran over by a runaway train and even stolen while he was sleeping by an evil old witch. It was fun, watching the little guys eyebrows knit together as Bash tried to determine whether or not he believed the story was true.

Looking down at Katie and her son, Merle felt a odd pull deep inside his chest. He was glad the boy had managed to sleep through everything that had happened, though he wouldn't escape without any knowledge of the events at all. Bash's favorite uncle was going to be unable to play with him for quite some time and some excuse was going to need to be made to explain away Gannon's severe and very visible injuries. As he watched them sleep, Merle felt the oddly mixed emotions of the day finally stop their swirling inside his head. He was left with just a desire to protect the woman in front of him. More than anything he wished that Katie had in bed along with her small son, sleeping instead of out fighting a band of disgusting men that had every intention of doing to her exactly what they had done to her niece if they got the chance. The last bits of anger he had towards her over the secret keeping slipped away, leaving him with a hole that could only be filled by climbing into bed and wrapping his arms around both her and her son.

TWD

Gannon woke up to a strange sound. If he had to guess he would have said that there was a small mewling kitten next to him. When the boy attempted to open his eyes he could feel that one of them had been bandaged shut. As he reached up to itch at the carefully applied wrappings, he felt a gentle hand on his wrist.

"Leave it alone." Gannon's hand was lowered back down onto his chest. "Don't try to sit up just yet." He recognized the voice when he heard it the second time. Soft and low, yet feminine with a hint of an accent. It was Maria, which meant he was in the infirmary. The mewling noises continued as she placed a pill to his lips, followed by the tip of a straw so he could chase the pill down with some water. The water stung as it slushed against the cuts inside his mouth but he forced himself to swallow it along with the pill, hoping it would bring some relief to the pain in the rest of his body.

Once he relaxed into his pillow, the kitten noises stopped. He opened his one good eye and glanced around, seeing the room at an awkward angle and without any depth perception. Maria was indeed the woman that had fed him the pain pill. He could see her. But she was dressed oddly, clad in slippers and a robe instead of the baggy scrubs or old faded jeans she usually wore when she was on duty. She climbed onto the cot next to his and pulled the blankets over her legs. In her arms she was carefully cradling a small bundle and as she opened the front of her robe and held the bundle closer, Gannon smiled as wide as his broken teeth would allow.

"You had your baby?," he asked. Maria smiled. She had indeed had her baby. Hershel had warned her many times that too much stress and time on her feet would make her go into labor. And he had been right. While she was helping Hershel stitch the gash in Gannon's side up, she felt the first of the many hard and painful contractions that came faster and closer together as the night went on.

Hershel had been there to help, still dressed in the fancy shirt and pants he had worn to his wedding. But Lexi had been the one to catch Maria's baby as it slid from between her legs. Maria had been training her not only as a field medic, but as a midwife. Maria had never had a prouder moment as a teacher than when Lexi, the side of her face still splattered with dried traces of blood from her fight with the men that kidnapped her, nudged Hershel out of the way and took full control of the birthing room.

"Can I see him?," Gannon asked, his voice already starting to get thicker from the pill Maria had given him. She smiled again, happy to see that Gannon's brush with death and the worst side of humanity and not impacted his sweet and gentle nature. Maria detached her infant from her breast and pushed back the covers. She swung down from her cot carefully, reminded herself that her body was still recovering from birthing her baby. Maria didn't want Gannon to have to sit up, so she leaned down, placing her baby on the pillow next to Gannon's head. He turned, groaning a little at the pain in his neck. The boy mumbled a few soft words of affection to the newborn before nuzzling into the baby and planting a kiss on the back of one of his tiny little hands.

Maria's baby slitted his eyes open and started mewling again, angry to be away from the warm comfort of his mother's soft milk scented breast. She pulled the infant back up into her arms, and tucked herself back into bed to finish feeding him. Gannon smiled at her once more before his droopy eyes fell shut. Maria cooed and cuddled her baby, enjoying the first flush of new motherhood for the second time. Her daughter was almost nine years old now and Maria had forgotten how tiny and precious new babies were.

There was a quiet tapping on the door before it was eased open. Martinez poked his head in first. Seeing that she was awake, he swung the door open wide enough to let Maria's daughter and younger brother scurry into the room to visit the newest addition to their family. In his other hand he had a breakfast tray. The good smells drifting in from it made Maria's stomach start to rumble and she realized that in all the confusion and excitement she hadn't had anything to eat since the small piece of wedding cake she had nibbled on the day before.

Caesar set the breakfast tray on her lap before leaning in to take the baby from her arms. By the confident way he held the infant, Maria was able to confirm what she had only suspected before. This was not his first child. He must have lost his family during the outbreak. Maria lost her husband, but she couldn't imagine the pain of losing a child. He settled himself on the ratty old couch that someone had dragged in so the people on duty would have somewhere to nap. Angela and Jose crowded in on either side of the man, leaning in to get a look at the baby.

"What's his name?," Maria's daughter asked as she stroked her hand carefully over the crop of ink black hair in his head. Maria stopped eating her oatmeal long enough for a questioning glance to pass between her and Martinez. They had agreed to try and get to know each other on a personal level instead of using the baby as a bridge between them. Not that he didn't ask her how she was feeling or doing, but they hadn't got around to picking baby names yet.

"He doesn't have one yet...," Maria admitted. She kept thinking up names, but each one that came into her mind was the name of someone that she had lost. She wanted her baby to have a fresh start. Not to be named after someone that had most likely been eaten alive. And even before the turn she had a terrible time picking out a name for her daughter. In the end Angela had been born as nameless as her new brother until Maria's husband chose a name for the little girl. "I'm hopeless at picking names," Maria said, putting down her empty bowl and starting on the buttered bread that was on a plate next to it, "Why don't you pick it?" Martinez raised his eyebrows, glancing up from the baby he seemed to be already so enthralled with. Maria nodded her head to indicate that she had been serious about her offer. If he thought he could come up a good name for her new son, she was willing to let him.

"Caesar Junior does have a nice ring to it," Martinez suggested, looking hopeful. When he found out his wife was pregnant with a boy he had wanted his son to have his name more than anything. But his wife had been dead set on naming the boy after her recently departed father. Jose laughed but Angela smiled at the idea, adding in her opinion that it was a good idea since the baby really looked like him.

Maria shrugged. She would love her baby just as much no matter what his name was. And she actually thought it was rather cute that Martinez was so eager to claim her son as his own, despite the fact that he had impregnated her under some very questionable circumstances. Maria knew the baby was his, but she would have understood if he had doubts. If he had any, he had never even hinted at them in her presence which Maria thought was very classy of him. It was better than she would have got from most men and that fact was not lost on her. They weren't officially in love yet, but the more she got to know the father of her child, the more she liked him. When he first moved in, he had been given her brother's old room. But a few weeks ago, he had started sleeping in bed with her. Soon after that they had started doing a little more than just sleeping next to each other. The sex was a little awkward, with her swollen belly buldging between them. But as it often did for couples, she felt the physical intimacy had brought them closer together. Made them feel like a real couple instead of just two people that happened to be having a baby together.

"I like it," Maria announced, immediately glad of her decision when she saw the excited look on Martinez's face. He looked happier than she had ever seen him look, grinning from ear to ear as he stared down at the tiny baby in his arms.

TWD

Daryl woke up to the smell of food. Bacon and coffee and fresh baked biscuits. He rolled out of bed and headed downstairs, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he went. Everyone in his house usually ate down at the communal dining area. But on the weekends when the kitchen team was getting a break, Katie or Maria would take turns making breakfast. Daryl's new favorite thing was something Maria called huevos rancheros, which he had decided must be mexican for the best breakfast tacos ever. She made them for the first time on a lazy sunday morning when Katie and Merle were still lingering upstairs in bed together. Daryl had taken his food out onto the large wooden wrap around deck and sipped on a large glass of orange juice while he watched people come and go from different parts of the camp to the others. It was the first time he had really been able to relax in as long as he could remember.

This morning neither of the women were to be found in the kitchen. Beth was the one cooking and Daryl felt pleasantly surprised to find her there, making him something to eat. When he woke up alone he figured she must have woken up before him and taken off. Beth was still dressed in the oversize pajama pants Martinez had given her the night before. To keep them from dragging on the ground she had rolled the waistband over a few times and tucked the hem of the tank top she had borrowed from Maria's daughter inside the pants. Her long blonde hair was gathered up into a sloppy bun on top of her head. A lone curl had escaped her grasp and tumbled down the back of her neck, bouncing in time with her movements.

As he stared at the girl, Daryl had a sudden flash of her naked body. He hadn't meant to look at her without her permission, but given the situation he hadn't had much choice. Now the memory of her tight pink nipples and the soft mound of dark blonde curls between her legs was burned into his brain. Thinking about it again made him feel like a real pervert and more than anything he wished he could just forget about it. That and the feel of her small body in his arms. How she felt like she weighed next to nothing.

"Mornin'," Daryl mumbled, past her towards the coffee. Beth offered him up a much more sincere and happy smile than he would have expected from someone that had been kidnapped and sexually assaulted the day before.

"Mornin'," Beth replied before adding, "Maria had her baby. A healthy baby boy. Martinez was just here picking up Angie so she could go see the baby." Daryl smiled back at her, understanding now why Beth seemed so happy. All women loved nothing more than they loved a newborn baby. In his opinion Maria couldn't have had better timing. Now all the bad shit that had happened the day before would be quickly forgotten. A new baby would give people something else to talk about.

"Good fer them," Daryl announced, a hint of a grin turing up the corners of his mouth. He poured himself a healthy mug of coffee, adding plenty of fresh cream and a few spoonfulls of sugar. Pulling down half a pack of cigarettes from his hiding place on top of the fridge he tapped one out and snagged it between his teeth. Not feeling like running all the way back up to his room for a lighter, he nudged a pan of bacon out of his way and lit his smoke on the electric burner.

Katie didn't like people smoking in her kitchen. Not cigarettes anyway. So Daryl turned to head out the front door. Beth stopped him, resting one slender hand on his shoulder to keep him from walking away. He turned, intending to ask her what was wrong. But before he could get the words out she had her arms wrapped around his waist and her head resting against his chest. Daryl tilted his head back to keep from burning her hair with his lit smoke. He grasped the cigarette between his fingers and held it away from the girl, leaving him only one arm to hold her with.

"I just...," she stammered, trying to find the right words to express how she felt, "Thank you for yesterday. And for letting me stay here last night. I don't know what I would have done without you." Her gratitude came out in a rush of emotion and though she reminded herself that Daryl probably didn't want her grabbing all over him she found she wasn't able to let go of him just yet.

"Don't need ta thank me," he mumbled. Beth pulled her head back off his chest and tilted it back, staring up into his face. Her big blue eyes were glisening with unshed tears and he could see the dark shadow across her cheekbone where a nasty looking bruise was forming. She tiptoed up and planted a kiss on top of the rough stubble of his cheek. She pulled back slightly, leaving her mouth only inches from his. They remained at a standstill that way for a few moments, staring at each other as the mood between them changed light and friendly to something more intense. He would have kissed her. Wanted to kiss her. But the thought of what she had recently been through was holding him back.

She kissed him instead. Nothing pornographic or earth shattering. Just a quick peck on the lips. But he felt it all the way down to his toes. The feel of her lips on his was like an electric shock. He wanted to do nothing more than to kiss her again and again and maybe even carry her upstairs to kiss her on every part of her body that had been bruised or scratched. But he didn't do any of that. Instead he jumped back away from Beth like he had been caught doing something wrong as soon as he heard the door swing open.

"Mornin'," Katie hollered. Once she saw Daryl she asked him, "Your brother here?" Daryl shook his head as he tugged at the hem of his t-shirt to try and make himself look a little less disheveled than he felt. "That son of a b-biscuit," Katie announced, checking her foul language since she had her son in her arms, "He better not be out doin' what I think he's doin'."

Beth turned back to the stove, moving quickly to flip the bacon over in the pan before it got too crispy. Katie slid in, giving the girl a little side hug and thanking her for making breakfast. She filled up a small plate of what was already cooked for her son and sat the boy down at the table with a spoon instead of a fork, making it slightly less likely that he would injure himself or anyone else.

"Daryl," she called over, trying to hide her smile at the way he was blushing red all the way up to the tips of his ears. Like she or anyone else cared if he and Beth were kissing. "You better get that nasty butt out of my kitchen." Daryl stared down at his hand, realizing she meant the lit cigarette he was holding. He glanced over at Katie, noticing that she was looking back and forth from him to Beth with a smirk on her face. He either hadn't jumped back fast enough or Katie had come into the kitchen before she called out and seen them. And if Katie knew, that meant Merle was going to know and all Katie's lady friends were going to know and Daryl was about to be on the recieving end of a lot of bullshit teasing. Daryl knitted his brows together and squared up his shoulders, quickly deciding if he was going to take some shit he might as well get something out of it.

Beth felt his hand on her elbow, guiding her gently back and away from the stove. That same hand slid up her arm and over her shoulder, coming to rest at the nape of her neck. She wasn't even sure what was happening until his lips were pressing down on hers. The kiss was rougher than any she had experienced before but it wasn't forceful. She knew if she pushed back against Daryl's chest with her hands he would let her go. But pushing him away was the last thing she wanted to do. Instead her arms came up, circling around his neck. The spatula in her hand that she had forgotten about dripped bacon grease down onto the floor near his feet.

The kiss stopped as abruptly as it had started. After a brief tangle of their tounges he finished with another rough peck on the side of her mouth. He untangled himself from her arms and swatted lightly at her behind to shoo her back to what she had been doing before he interuppted her. Passing through the kitchen, Daryl pointed the two fingers that his cigarette was clamped between at Katie.

"You kin tell yer friends about that," Daryl informed her. As the screen door slapped shut behind him, Daryl could hear Katie cackling in the kitchen. She laughed so loud and hard that soon he could hear Beth laughing along with her. The laughter died down eventually and then Daryl could hear the quiet mumur of their voices. He thought they might start talking about him but of course they were much more interested in discussing Maria's new baby. What it's name was. How much hair it had. How tiny and sweet it was. Katie was asking Beth if she wouldn't mind helping her set Bash's old crib up in Maria's room. Daryl smiled and shook his head, thinking again about women and babies and how silly excited they got over them.

Just as he took the last drag off his smoke, Daryl spotted his brother walking up the path from the opposite direction that Daryl expected. He looked like he was coming in from the back part of the outer wall. Daryl had assumed when Katie said she couldn't find him that he was up at the main house. The man had a rifle slung over his shoulder and a handgun strapped to his waist. He looked like he had been awake for quite some time and Daryl was curious as to what his brother had been up to.

The men exchanged a morning greeting that involved some head nodding and a few grunts. Daryl smuded his smoldering butt out in a flower pot that Katie had filled with gravel and left by the door for him. Then he followed Merle back inside the house.

At the sight of the elder Dixon brother, Katie crossed her arms under her ample breasts and narrowed her eyes at the man. Merle ignored her as he put his guns away in the safe and swung the door shut. Then he leaned back against the steel box and crossed his own arms, giving Katie a nice big shit eating grin. A little high pitched snort squeaked out of her before she finally spoke up.

"You killed my damn bear, didn't you?" She was asking a question but it came out sounding more like an accusation. Merle only grinned wider.

"Yup," he announced. He had killed that bear alright. And he wasn't going to tell her who helped him either. She wasn't the only one around the place that could keep secrets. At any rate he had done her and the other girls a favor. It just wasn't safe having that animal around and he didn't care how well they had it secured.

"Damn it Merle," Katie cursed, smacking her hand down on the table and trying to keep a straight face. His smug attitude was making it harder and harder for her to keep from laughing. "Now what are we going to do with the _rapists_ when we catch them?" When she said the word 'rapists', Katie lowered her voice and covered her son's little ears like she had said the worst cuss word imaginable.

"Well you could just shoot them...," Merle suggested. He supposed if they wanted to get creative they could hang them from a tree or drown them in the lake. Or they could do what they had threatened him with on the way here and toss them off the bus into a giant herd of walkers. He didn't really care as long as it didn't involve the possibility of him being attacked by a giant zombie bear while he was rabbit hunting in the woods.

"Where's the fun in that?," Katie huffed, settling back down against her chair with a smile playing at the corners of her lips.

Katie's comment about fun seemed so outrageous to Beth that for a moment the girl stood there staring with her mouth open. Then she barked out a laugh, covering her mouth to try and stop herself from laughing harder. She regained control of herself, turning off the stove now that the bacon was done cooking. Beth wasn't sure about how fun it had been to watch those men get eaten up. But it had made her feel better about what happened to her. Filling her plate with food, Beth took a seat at the table next to Daryl.

Katie must have already forgiven Merle for killing her bear, because Beth noticed that she cut up his food for him and even fed him a little bite of a pancake on the tip of her fork. The meal was a little more rowdy than Beth remember sunday brunch being at her house, but she still enjoyed herself. Merle and Katie were funny joking around with each other. It seemed to Beth that most of the teasing they did was just a mask for the deeper feelings they had for each other. After Katie informed Merle of what a pain in the ass she thought he was Beth noticed that Katie's hand slid over into the man's lap, rubbing up and down the length of his thigh.

Halfway through her breakfast, Beth got full and had to push back from the table. Daryl didn't say anything, he just slid his already empty plate in front of her and pulled the rest of her food in front of him so he could finish it off for her. The topic turned to what they each planned to do with their day. Bash was in the middle of begging Merle to take him fishing again when there was a knock on the door.

People knocked. But they never waited for an answer. Immediately after the knock, the door was swung open. Addy glanced at Beth and Daryl sitting together before quickly turning her attention to Katie. She had more important things to worry about than what Daryl was doing and who he was doing it with.

"We got visitors at the gate," Addy said.


	40. Chapter 40

The Lady Claimers

Chapter 40

"Go, I've got him," Beth assured Katie as she shifted the woman's son into her lap. Katie gave Beth a nod of appreciation and a quick kiss for her boy before she bolted out the door behind Daryl and Merle. Addy was already behind the wheel of one of the faster golf carts and as Katie slid into the front seat next to the woman she grabbed for the bar on the side and braced herself for the sudden speed that would come when Addy inevitably slammed her foot down on the gas pedal.

Recent events had put everyone in the compound on edge. Because that was the only explanation that Daryl could come up with to explain the scene he happened upon once Addy had driven them at breakneck speeds down the wooded drive towards the main gate. About a dozen women were standing in a loose circular formation, surrounding an older black man and a teenage girl that were kneeling on the ground looking absolutely horrified. The man looked familiar and it only took Daryl a moment to realize why. He had met the man on the recent trading run he had gone on with the girls. His name wasn't coming to mind but he was the one they had traded with for all the peaches. He and his family ran the orchard together. Daryl remembered it well because he thought the way they kept themselves hidden and safe from the walkers was ingenious. They lived above the ground in treehouses.

"Hey," Katie hollered out as she leaped from the cart, "Back off! Stand down! Everyone get back, we know these people." Some of the women looked hesitant but they did as Katie asked and backed away, lowering their weapons and pointing them at the ground. Katie extended her hand to the man and helped him to his feet. Addy did the same for the girl that was kneeling down next to him.

"Patrick," Katie said, offering up the man a smile that she hoped was pretty enough to make up for the rough way he had been treated by her people, "I'm sorry. We had some trouble yesterday. A few of our people were taken and one of my brothers got hurt. We're still a little on edge." The man nodded his understanding as Addy handed him back the weapons that had been taken from him. She knew as well as Katie did that they needed the trading they did with Patrick and his family. He drove a hard enough bargain without them pissing him off.

"I understand," the man said, unable to stop himself from smiling down at Katie. Even if he had been pissed about the way he was treated he wasn't in a position to make demands. "I need your help," he added, eager to get right to the point. He and his daughter had rode all night on the two lathered horses that were panting heavily near the gates. He only came because he had no one else to turn to. And he didn't have any more time to waste. Patrick needed to know now if these women were going to help him. If not he had to get back in time to get his people out.

"What's wrong?," Addy asked, taking her place by Katie's side. Katie turned and gestured to a one of the girls, telling her to bring Patrick and his daughter some water.

"A man came," Patrick said, "he said he was looking for save harbour. We fed him and let him stay the night. He took my granddaughter. Then he came back with his group. He said if we don't leave the orchard he'll kill her. He gave us until tomorrow to decide."

TWD

Beth pulled Katie's son onto her lap and hugged the boy close. An action she immediately regretted as he thrust his syrup covered fingers into her hair. Gripping the boy by the wrists to keep him from touching anything else, Beth walked him into the kitchen and washed his sticky hands. The boy seemed to enjoy the soapy water so Beth pulled a chair over to the sink for him to stand on and let him help her wash up the breakfast dishes. The boy was much more interested in splashing her with water than he was in actually helping but after her frightening experiece the day before, Beth welcomed the distraction his playful behavoir provided.

"Go fish?," the boy asked once the water was drained and Beth had wiped him up as best she could with a dry towel. Bash scuttled over and began gesturing to a pile of fishing equiptment that someone, likely his mother, had the foresight to place up on top of the gun safe and well out of his reach. "Fish fish fish," he chanted.

"How would you like to go see Maria's new baby?," Beth asked in the hopes of distracting the boy. After what happened the last time there was no way she was taking this kid fishing again. Not today. Not ever. Beth knelt down and smiled at the boy. "Would Bash like to see a baby?," she asked. The boy's face lit up with excitement and he grinned wickedly at her.

"Bash punch a baby!," he declared. For emphasis the boy pounded his small fist into his palm. Beth tried her best to keep a straight face which she was finding nearly impossible to do.

"You can only give nice touches to babies," Beth informed the boy. To demonstrate what she meant Beth reached over and stroked the round curve of his chubby baby cheek. While he was quick to dispense violence, Bash was also very affectionate with people he had deemed worthy of his trust. And since she had been the one to help him when he hurt his lip, Beth had been earned herself admitance into a very exclusive club. The boy leaned into her touch before stepping forward and wrapping his arms around her neck. Beth hugged him, rubbing her hand over his back. She hadn't known how badly she needed a hug until that moment.

There was a knock on the door. Beth waited for it to be thrown open but when that didn't happen she rose from the floor lifting Bash with her and balancing the boy on one slender hip. That was the way Katie carried him and she always made it look easy. Beth was struggling to keep the boy from sliding down and she had to brace one arm under his butt as she pulled the door open with the other.

"Hi daddy, hi Maggie," Beth said, greeting her family members as they barged inside the house. Maggie rushed at Beth, wrapping her arms around the smaller woman. Bash wriggled down, not wanting to be so close to the unfamiliar woman. Hershel was more known to the boy and so he darted over to yank at the man's pantleg.

"Fish fish," he requested. Hershel smiled as he pulled the small boy up into his arms. Despite the sobering events that took place, Hershel had still been married the day before. And that meant his family had expanded and now included one small and very spirited grandson named Sebastian. Hershel wasn't sure whether to be overjoyed or a bit scared but he was leaning towards the former. After losing so many people he cared about, Hershel welcomed the new connections he and his daughters were making.

He hoped that he might form a closer bond with not only Katie's son but with his new wife's other family members as well. But at the moment his main concern was for his youngest daughter. He had not been given a lot of details but he had been told she was held captive by the same group of men that Hershel had seen from the safety of the bus on his way from the prison to the compound. But no one had offered up any further information. The night before Hershel had focused all his energy on saving his other new grandson's life. He had not had time to consider that his own daughter might be in need of his support.

"How would you like to play in the sandbox while I talk a little with Beth?," Hershel asked the boy. Bash nodded his head making the soft blonde curls on the back of his neck bounce with his movements. He wriggled down from Hershel's arms and ran to the greenhouse door, pounding on it with his fists until Beth appeared to open it for him. Once he was settled in the large sandbox with his buckets and shovels and little toy trucks, Bash was more than happy to entertain himself and allow the adults some time to talk.

Beth sighed as she glanced at Maggie's already tearstained face. She knew Maggie was pregnant. But Beth was the one that had been taken by force, beaten and molested. She was feeling slightly irritated that Maggie felt the need to get emotional and dramatic about it. But it had always been Maggie's way to make everything that happened about her. It was her role in the family dynamic. Beth was the quiet one that tried to appease everyone. Shawn had been the realist. Before he very realistically got bitten by their walker mother and then turned into a zombie himself.

"I'm alright," Beth announced before anyone could suggest otherwise. Until she spoke the words out loud she hadn't realized how true they were. She was actually alright. The side of her face was bruised and her lip was split. There was a cut down the center of her chest that she knew was probably going to leave a scar. But she was alright. In fact she felt much more like swooning a bit over that fact that Daryl had kissed her than she felt like rehashing what had happened to her the day before. Which was actually nothing compared to what had happened to Gannon and Lexi and Kristin. Maybe she was in shock. But she didn't think so. Beth felt it was more likely that after watching half her family being gunned down in front the barn that used to house sick horses that she was just less affected by the horrors around her.

"Maria said to tell you...," Hershel's voice wavered as he struggled to keep his emotions under control. He took a deep breath before forcing himself to continue. He reached for Beth's slender hand and held it between his own. "She said to tell you that she has pills at the infirmary. The kind can be taken to prevent an unwanted pregnancy." It took Beth a moment to realize what her father was implying.

"Oh!," she squeaked, "oh no.. He didn't... I mean... That's not..." Beth stuttered and stammered for a moment. She didn't think her father needed a mental image of exactly what had happened to her but also wanted to assure him that the pills Maria was offering her were not needed. "Daryl got there in time to stop that man," Beth finally said, choosing her words carefully this time. The relief on her father's face was palpable. He had tears in his eyes and Beth couldn't stop herself from going to him and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"God bless him," Hershel mumbled. Whatever Daryl had been before the end of the world he had been nothing but a blessing to them all since. Hershel couldn't even count the times that Daryl had been the only reason he and his family had gone to sleep with full bellies at night. And now he had saved Beth. Hershel felt he owed the man a great debt. One that he could never begin to repay.

TWD

Rick had woken in the very early morning to the sound of someone knocking on the door of his cabin. Carl had been too afraid to sleep alone. He refused to talk about it. But whatever he had seen had gotten him so upset that he had been shaking and crying. Roberta had headed home. Rick figured she was gone for the night, maybe unable or unwilling to accept her new role as a sort of stepmother to his children, but she had reappeared a few minutes later with a small blue pill in her hand. Carl swallowed it down without complaint and a short time later he was so tired that Rick had to carry him to bed like he hadn't done since the boy was a toddler. He and Roberta sat up and split what was left of a bottle of champagne that had been opened for Hershel's wedding.

They didn't speak about the bear or what had happened. Her hand twined into his and they sat together drinking in comfortable silence. She had still been clothed in her sexy gold party dress but with a pair of leggings pulled on underneath, her hair softly rumpled and a splash of dried blood on one of her arms. After her second glass of sparkling wine her eyes blinked shut. Rick lifted her shapely legs onto the couch and covered her with a blanket before he crawled in bed next to his son.

Not wanting the knocking to wake Carl or Roberta, Rick hurried to the door and pulled it open. He was surprised to find Merle standing on his porch. The man was fully dressed despite the early morning hour and had an extra rifle slung over his right shoulder. Casting an amused glance down at Rick's boxers and bare legs Merle suggested that he might want to get some pants on.

"Where are we going?," Rick asked the man. He wasn't sure if he wanted to go anywhere with Merle but since the man had never even bothered to speak to him since they arrived at the compound his curiosity was piqued.

"Bear huntin'," Merle informed him with a wicked grin. Rick wasn't sure how he felt about hunting a captive animal. Even if it was technically already dead. And he really wasn't sure about how he felt about doing something that was likely to get him into trouble with the women here. But instead of standing at the door arguing, Rick headed to the bedroom and pulled on his pants and boots. He shut his door and reluctantly followed Merle down the porch steps. The man picked up a travel mug of coffee and thrust it at him, a gesture that Rick found unsettlingly thoughtful.

A lot of possible scenarios began to play out in Rick's mind. Maybe Merle was still angry about his hand and the part Rick had played in the loss of it. Maybe the man was leading him out into the woods to kill him. Like Shane had done. If that wasn't the case, Merle was still smart and sneaky. Maybe he meant to release the bear and then blame it on Rick to get him into trouble.

Sipping the coffee, Rick took the gun that Merle handed him. Rick checked and found that it was fully loaded. He decided that this greatly decreased the possibility that Merle was taking him out to kill him. Rick felt himself relax a little. Merle had a golf cart waiting at the end of the row of cabins. They rode it in silence to the outside of the inner wall. From there they would have to walk.

While Rick didn't know the elder of the two Dixon brothers at all, he had gotten to know Daryl quite well. And Daryl always responded best to very direct and honest questions. Rick figured he had nothing to lose and decided he might as well try the same approach with Merle.

"If you wanted someone to help you kill that bear," Rick asked, "why didn't you just take your brother?"

"Think I'm leadin' ya out to slaughter?," Merle retorted.

"The thought had crossed my mind," Rick admitted. That thought and a lot of other thoughts that were equally as bad. He noticed how quietly Merle walked through the woods. He made the leaves crunching under Rick's feet sound twice as loud as they actually were.

"Yer sleepin' with t'otha boss lady," Merle told him with a low chuckle. Rick assumed the man meant Roberta but he still wasn't sure what his sleeping with her had to do with why Merle had asked him to help him get rid of that bear. Noticing Rick's confusion, Merle was more than happy to elaborate without any further enouragment. Getting him talking took far less effort than it took to get Daryl talking. "Didn't want to get little brother into any more trouble after he got shitfaced and went after that little douchebag t'otha day. Figured the girls would be less willin' to throw out the men that warm up their beds at night."

Rick nodded his understanding. Merle hadn't chosen Rick because he wanted Rick's help specifically. He had asked him to help only because he happened to be sleeping with Roberta. Rick wasn't sure if he ought to feel relieved or insulted but mostly he was just glad that Merle appeared to have gotten over the grudge he had been holding onto. Having what appeared to be a happy home life had changed the man. Not that he had given up his crude form of humor. But it was obvious even to Rick that Merle was less angry and hateful than he had been back at the prison. Rick had even seen the man playing with Katie's son and letting the small boy climb all over him.

"You go in and unlock the shed," Merle suggested, "I'll cover ya." When Rick outwardly balked at that idea Merle rolled his eyes at the man. "Fuckin' pussy," he grumbled under his breath. Merle unlocked the gate with a set of keys that Rick was fairly sure he had stolen, probably from Katie while she slept. Before he entered the fenced area he glanced back at Rick. "Better fuckin' cover me then. I got no interest in being bear chow."

Rick moved away and held up his gun, pointing it at the entrance to the metal shed. Merle unlocked that door as well. Once the lock was off he moved fast. He bolted out of the enclosure and slammed the gate shut behind him. He chose a spot near Rick and lifted his gun, also aiming at the door of the shed.

The two men waited but nothing happened. The only sign of the bear was a few grunting snorts from inside the shed. Merle and Rick were forced to holler and kick at the metal fence in order to encourage the bear to come out of it's hiding place. Unlike the night before the bear moved slow and sluggishly, padding on all four of it's large rotted paws. It's muzzle was covered in blood and Merle realized that the reason it had been so reluctant to escape was because it had still been snacking on the two men it had killed the night before. The remains of a human arm hung from it's jaws, the hand dislocated from the wrist and dangling loose.

The bear seemed mildly interested in the fresh meat that was visible outside it's enclosure. It headed for Merle and Rick, dropping the ripped off arm and using the fence to pull itself up on it's back legs. The fence bowed out from the weight and both men gripped their guns tighter and backed up a few yards. The bear sniffed at the air before it let out a loud growling grunt. With that everything and everyone the undead animal had consumed the night before came splashing and streaking out the opposite end of it.

Fecal matter never smelled good. Not even from a normal healthy animal. But the half digested goopy human remains that came flying out of the south end of the undead bear along with the general rotten stink of the thing resulted in a smell so terrible that even Merle could not think of words foul enough to describe it. Having had the misfortune of eating something before he left the main house to get Rick, Merle turned and headed behind the closest tree to empty the contents of his stomach. The gagging sound of him vomiting in combination with the smell of what had come out of the bear sent Rick over the edge. He leaned forward and puked up his coffee.

"Let's get this over with," Merle suggested as he staggered out from behind the tree. His words were muffled from his shirt being yanked up over hir nose and mouth. He raised his gun and started shooting, aiming at the animal's head. Rick followed suit, covering his own nose and mouth with his shirt before lifting his gun and firing at the animal. It took several direct head shots from each of them before the creature went down. So many that Rick realized how unsafe it was for the girls to be holding such and animal captive in the first place. If it had gotten loose it would have been able to kill several people before they would have been able to take it down.

"What now?," Rick asked once the bear was dead on the ground and they had fired a few extra rounds into its head just in case.

"Now let's get the fuck out of here," Merle answered.

TWD

Milton had never seen a woman cry before. Maybe on tv or in a movie he had seen it. But never up close and personal. And certainly never in his arms with her tears wetting his neck and the collar of his freshly laundered shirt.

Women had always been a bit of a mystery to him. He didn't really understand them. And this had never been so true than it was about the woman he was currenty sharing his bed with. He often wondered what Hex's interest in him was. They had little to nothing in common. She wore cowboy boots that were scuffed and broken in. The muscles in her arms were defined and her stomach was toned and taunt. Her skin held a deep tan from all the time she spent working outside in the sun. Her hands were rough and calloused. She wasn't scared of wild horses even though it was plainly obvious that the animals were capable of trampling her to death at any given moment. There was even a large scar on one of her shoulders where she said a horse had bitten her. And other scars on her back and the insides of her thighs that she never offered up an explanation for. The truth was that Milton found her a bit intimidating.

So when she fell apart in his arms Milton had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to do. In an instant she transformed from someone that hadn't been afraid to catch the large snake that had somehow found it's way inside their bathroom to a fragile creature that needed him to protect her from the horrors of the world. He hadn't been given the details of what happened but Milton knew that some men had taken a few of the younger members of the group captive and hurt them. Hex had gone after them with the people that Milton considered to be the enforcers of the place. And Hex had killed one of the men. Shot him dead with her gun and then stuck her knife in his face to make sure he wouldn't turn.

Milton waited up in the kitchen for her to come back. He was suprised by how worried he was about her. And by how kind and comforting the other members of the group were towards him. Katie's grandmother even hugged him. But nothing had shocked him more than Hex's behavior when she finally got back. As soon as she saw him her face crumpled up and she rushed at him, clinging to the back of his shirt and sobbing into his neck. Milton had no idea what to say so he just held her until she calmed down. Then he led her over to the table and sat her down in a chair. He offered to make her some tea. Even as the words came out of his mouth he felt like the lamest man alive. But she had looked up at him with so much gratitude, like he had offered to lasso the moon for her.

Later on that night they went home together. Hex suprised him again when she led him to the bedroom they shared and immediately began pulling at his clothes. Milton had been under the impression that most women didn't like having sex when they were angry or upset. That said he wasn't going to object. If she wanted him, which she usually did almost every night unless her shoulders were hurting her, he was more than happy to oblige her. Because despite all their differences he found her more sexually desirable than any women he had ever laid his hands on. She was sexually uninhibited. Not that Milton had any odd demands. He just wanted to look at her. And she was more than happy to leave the light on so he could do just that. Or spread her legs for him to reveal the glistening pink folds of her opening. She even had a few flimsy lacy underthings that she would put on just so he could peel them off her. He didn't even know women actually wore things like that outside of porno videos.

The morning came and Milton woke up pleased to find that Hex was actually still in bed with him and not already down at the barn as was her habit. He didn't bother to reach for his glasses. Instead he snuggled closer to the naked woman beside him, enjoying the smell of her hair and the soft press of her backside against his hips. She rolled onto her back, shifting him on top of her. Her eyes weren't open yet but she had a soft sleepy smile on her face as she gently wiggled her hips into him, encouraging him not to waste his morning erection. Milton would normally have had reservations about penetrating a sleeping woman but he had woken up enough times to find Hex riding him like one of her horses that he figured consent between them was clearly implied. Sinking into her, he was rewarded with a satisfied moan as her eyes fluttered open.

"Good morning," she sighed, her hands sinking down under the covers to grab at his ass. Her legs spread wider and her hips shifted, allowing him to sink a little deeper inside her. No other words came out of her aside from soft mumbling sighs and moans. When they were finished Milton collapsed on the bed next to her.

"Breakfast?," she asked, her voice still soft and breathless. He groaned.

"Let's go back to sleep," Milton suggested, pulling her closer to him and yanking the covers up over both of them. Normally Hex was an early riser, more eager than anyone he had ever seen to get up and get moving in the morning. So he was suprised when she sighed and nestled into the crook of his arm instead of tossing the covers off and thrusting his glasses at him.

Just as Milton was drifting back to sleep someone began pounding on their door. And not the door to the cabin. Their bedroom door. Milton groaned. Not only did someone always want Hex for something, they were always very demanding about it. Many times he had wished for his old life. The one were he made enough money that Hex wouldn't have had to work. But he often reminded himself that he never would have met the woman if he was still living his old life.

"Go away!," Hex hollered at the door. She snaked her hand under the covers and let it roam over the soft line of blonde hair on his stomach as she whispered to him that she didn't give a flying fuck if every single horse in that barn got out. The contact on Milton's sensitve skin along with her teasing words made him laugh. He muffled the noise in her hair and pulled the covers up tighter over them both. But whoever was on the other side of the door was having none of their games.

Another loud knock was followed by the door being swung open, the knob banging against the wall behind it. Hex peeked out to see who it was. Roberta was standing in the doorway with one hand resting on her ample hips. Hex dove back under the covers.

"Go away," she repeated. Roberta laughed.

"Sorry," she told the couple, "Merle needs you up at the main house."

"What the hell does that fucking pirate need me for?," Hex groused. She took orders from Katie. Not her one handed foul mouth pain in the ass boyfriend. In her opinion that guy was still new around here and had been overstepping his bounds for some time now. Hex knew Katie's sister agreed with her but since the man hadn't actually done anything wrong it was hard to think up a valid reason to complain about him. And unlike Mandy, Hex cared too much about Katie's feelings to make a stink about what really amounted to nothing.

Milton had already been laughing from the ticklish way she was touching him but when Hex referred to Merle as a fucking pirate he really let go. Roberta waited for him to get his laughter under control before she pointed at him.

"Not you," Roberta explained. She pointed at Milton, "He needs you."


End file.
